TFS Ticonderoga
by vliegenvanger
Summary: continuation of the under siege and battlestar group 16 stories. this story is about the ship and crew of the Ticonderoga directly after the Wraith attack on earth. AU after season 5 of atlantis, no ORI
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own BSG or SG-1/SGA, nor do I make any money from this story whatsoever.**

**Sorry for the delay, school's been keeping me busy. If you want the background I'd advise you to read Under Siege and Battlestar group 16.**

**Please R&R**

**Thanks to Rudy Pena for the beta**

**Earth Orbit**

**1700 hours, January 20**

In orbit over Earth, between the planet and its moon dozens of starships patrol the sky. Several hundred fighters are flying CAP's around the system. Some of the ships represent the might of the Aesir tribe of the Asgard, their mighty O'Neill class battleships forming the core of the patrols. Other smaller ships coming from the Colonials, Jaffa, Tok'ra and several other races have taken guard around the mighty O'Neill's. The Tau'ri's own battle cruisers -most of them still damaged from the recent battle- are doing everything they can to help the people on the planet itself. The planet was hit by large chunks of debris falling from the skies after two Wraith super hives were destroyed in orbit. One battle cruiser however is not aiding the planet but is surrounded by several Aesir Daniel Jackson class science ships. White beams reach out form the Jacksons to place or remove things from the Tau'ri Federation ship Ticonderoga. The Ticonderoga is the first ship to be renamed from USS Ticonderoga to TFS Ticonderoga, a new change in planetary politics. Inside one of the hanger bays massive modules are placed while the other hanger bay is receiving Colonial MK.8 Vipers and several Raptors. The Commander of the Ticonderoga was already waiting for the raptors. The first raptor was moved towards an empty spot on the crowded hanger bay. The hatch opened and the first person out was a short blonde female wearing the uniform of a Colonel in the Colonial Fleet, furthermore she wore numerous war medals and also a badge that indicated she could fly Raptors and Vipers as well as having command of a battlestar.

The blonde stepped forwards and brought her arm up for a sharp salute.

"Colonel Kara Thrace reporting as ordered sir."

"At ease colonel." Grant said as he returned the salute. "So you're going to be my new XO, I've heard quite a lot about you."

"Nothing of it is true." Thrace replied.

"Admiral Adama spoke very highly about you, said you were the best." Grant said. He gestured Thrace in the direction of the doors.

"In that case, it is all true." Thrace replied. "What happened to the original XO?"

"She received a small dose of radiation; the doctors won't clear her for the mission." Grant said.

"Lucky me, so when do we leave?"

"In about two hours, the Asgard are finishing up the repairs and upgrades to our systems and the last of the new crew will arrive soon."

"I heard the crew will be larger than the normal 200 something?"

"The barracks almost double the amount of people we can have on board, the total crew number is between 450 and 500. I hadn't had a decent chance to look at the personnel files just jet." Grant replied. "I did hear that some of the new soldiers are Colonial marines, they wanted access to our weapons."

"I hope those marines are Razors, they are the best we have." Thrace said. By now they had entered the bridge and Thrace looked around amazed.

The bridge of the Ticonderoga was changed a bit with all the new systems and races aboard. For instance, every screen had a button to translate to Asgard, Tok'ra/Goa'uld or English which was the default setting. Several new stations were added while the commander's chair now more represented an Ancient Chair. In front of the bridge a beautiful young woman stood, though something seemed odd about her.

While Thrace gave the woman a questioning look the women just returned it. When Grant noticed the two women staring at each other he explained. "Colonel Thrace, meet Ticonderoga, the ship's AI. Ticonderoga, meet Colonel Thrace of the Colonial Fleet, the new XO."

"What the Frak…" was all Thrace could say.

"Hi there, I am looking forward to working with you Colonel." Ticonderoga said.

"Colonel Thrace, you first task is to oversee the transport and installation of the ZPM which we will be receiving momentarily from the George Hammond." Grant said.

"Ye… yes sir." Thrace replied. She walked over to a lieutenant and whispered something in his ears. Not a minute later four marines walked in and the ZPM was beamed in from the Hammond. Thrace took the case with the ZPM and walked off towards the ZPM room with the four marines in tow.

**Bridge, TFS Ticonderoga**

**1855 Hours**

"Colonel Thrace, please give me a status report on all systems." Grant ordered.

"Hyperdrive stand-by, sublight on, shields active, weapons ready to power, ZPM is tied in and performing perfectly. All other systems ready to go." Thrace said.

"Alright, get me Atlantis." Grant waited for Thrace to open the feed to Atlantis and for O'Neill to show up. "General, we are ready to go, I request permission to leave orbit and set course for our targeted destination."

"You have a go, good luck and bring her back in one piece if you can." O'Neill said.

"Colonel Thrace, break orbit and power the hyperdrive, once we are clear you may proceed to activate the hyperdrive."

"Yes sir."

The Ticonderoga quickly moved away from the planet and its moon, they passed other ships and also wreckage from the battle. When the ship was far away from anything else it engaged its hyperdrive for the day's long journey to the planet only known as p34-927. The ship's new crew started to practice, get used to the aliens on board and their procedures. Colonial marines worked together with US Marines, SAS and Spetznas soldiers, mainstreaming tactics and codes. Colonial engineers got their first looks at a working ZPM while earth and Jaffa ground crew worked with the colonial ground crews maintaining the vipers and raptors. The bridge officers ran simulation after simulation in order to get everything running smoothly. The entire crew worked hard to get into fighting condition and resemble something of a professional crew.

**0548 hours, January 25**

Colonel Grant walked with Colonel Thrace through the corridors of the Ticonderoga. Even though both were called Colonel, Grant was a full bird colonel which could be compared to a Colonial battlestar commander while Thrace was a Colonial Colonel performing the tasks of a Tau'ri Major. The two officers were looking to see how well everyone was settling in and to find the new security officer, Major Kendra Shaw of the Colonial Marines. Throughout the ship, crewmembers walked quickly with tablet PC's, after asking, one of them told Grant where they could find Shaw. Arriving in the gym they found it packed with people, colonial and US marines, SAS, Spetznas and Jaffa soldiers. Even though the regular Jaffa warrior isn't worth a thing these were, trained by Tau'ri Special Forces, they were the best the Jaffa had. After they had found themselves a way through the crowd, they found Major Shaw fighting it out with a Jaffa Soldier. By the looks of it the Jaffa had used a lot of its staff tricks but now Shaw had taken his staff. Without the staff the Jaffa had a hard time defending against the fierce major who kept attacking. In a few quick strikes she brought the Jaffa to the ground and held a dummy knife at his throat. Then Shaw relaxed and stood up. When she was standing again, she helped the embarrassed Jaffa up and gave the dummy knife to another Colonial marine while another Jaffa picked up the staff. Shaw, having noticed the two colonels walked over to them.

"What'cha doing Major?" Thrace asked.

"Oh, just showing the Jaffa that their staff tricks mean nothing and also showing them how to fight."

"Very good major, how's the integrating of the different forces going?" Grant asked.

"Well, the Colonials and Tau'ri are doing great; it's the Jaffa whom I'm worried about. The Jaffa warriors are immensely proud of their history, and they should. But their attitude it going to get them and us killed in the field. I know they had training of Earth instructors but it just isn't enough. Besides, they need to get over their feeling towards woman in combat, I've got the feeling that half these guys would jump up and drag any female marine out of the combat zone even if it means their death. On the other side, they don't trust a female to have their back."

"Better not let the Jaffa aboard a battlestar, I doubt they can handle the co-ed bunks and showers." Thrace chuckled.

Shaw snorted shortly before regaining her composure. "Sir, when do we reach our target?"

Grant consulted his watch before answering. "About three hours before we arrive, why?"

"I've been up for eighteen hours, beaten twelve Jaffa and two of those Spetznas guys, I think I'm gonna catch some rack time before we arrive."

"Just make sure you're on the bridge when we arrive." Grant said.

"Yes sir." Shaw said before she walked away to the bachelor officer's quarters.

Thrace and Grant watched for several more minutes how soldiers sparred before returning to the bridge.

Arriving in her quarters, Major Shaw set her alarm at 8.15, giving her enough time to get a shower and some food before reporting to the bridge.

**8:15**

**Bachelor officer's quarters**

Shaw woke up to the annoying tone of her alarm, several other officers told her to quit the damned thing else they'd shoot it. Quickly complying she turned off the alarm and got out of bed. She walked over to a large closet near the showers. She grabbed a towel from the large stack and walked into the shower room. She removed the few pieces of clothing she wore and stepped under the showers. After a few minutes the ship started to tremble, before she could do anything a giant shock threw her to a nearby wall. Soon the ship was rocked with impacts and the lights flickered. She struggled to get to where she had put her towel but before she could reach artificial gravity stopped working. Shaw having picked up quite some speed flew into the bunk room giving off a loud Frak, completely naked.

On the bridge Grant struggled to remain in his chair. Two nearby airmen had found out the hard way that remaining seated during heavy turbulence was recommended. Consoles sparked and a fire had started somewhere to the back of the bridge. Alarms were all blaring and the ship kept being rocked with impacts. When the artificial gravity gave out Grant quickly fastened the seatbelt installed in his chair. Most other personnel were not so fortunate to have a seatbelt and slowly drifted away from their stations. As sudden as the rocking and shaking started it ended. From all over the ship reports of damage came in, several decks were breached and people were asking for orders. Then out of nowhere the ship's AI activated.

"Tico, what the hell is going on?!" Grant asked using the quick name for the AI.

"Some sort of Ion Storm, it destroys anything that draws huge amounts of power."

"Crap." Was all Grant could say. "Tico shut down all systems except for basic systems like life support."

"Already on it sir." The AI said. And within seconds all active systems ceased their activity except for the basic systems. For all intents and purposes the Ticonderoga was dead in the water.

"Damage report!" Grant ordered.

Thrace tried to reach her station but Tico beat her to it. "Asgard weapons systems destroyed, hyperdrive destroyed, sublight seriously damaged, long range sensors destroyed, artificial gravity off-line, Asgard core off-line, ZPM power levels low, Shields seriously damaged and off-line." The list kept on going for a little while.

"How the hell is all that possible?" Thrace asked.

"We were pulled out of hyperspace by some unknown way. Because of the unplanned exit of hyperspace, the ship automatically raised its shields and powered weapons. Both actions drew huge amounts of power leading the ion storm into hitting those systems. When Asgard weaponry and the shields were disabled an automated distress call was sent by long range subspace communications, again drawing large amounts of power leading to its destruction. As per exit of hyperspace, the sub-light engines kick in to slow us down to reasonable speeds again requiring large amounts of power. Several other systems were damaged just because they were either close to an energy-hungry system or in the way of ion strikes. We have multiple hull breaches and the transporters are off-line. So far 465 crewmembers have been accounted for by the internal sensors meaning we have 32 missing. The sickbay is inaccessible and the hospital in the hanger bay is being overrun with wounded." Ticonderoga replied.

So we're crippled even if we get out of this ion storm?" Grant asked. When the AI nodded its head he muttered "great." Grant quickly looked around the bridge and saw most screens either black or showing errors. "Any idea when this ion storm will be over?"

"It will never end. But because our engines were not completely able to slow us down we do have a reasonable speed and with what our short range sensors indicate we will make it out of the storm in about six hours." Ticonderoga said.

Right at that point Shaw floated in, only wearing shorts and a tank top while holding a Colonial assault rifle. She was followed by four other marines.

"Well, if it was at any other moment I'd take a picture of you major but this isn't the time." Grant said while looking at her.

"Sorry sir, I was taking a shower when the gravity went down, I grabbed a rifle and made it over here as quickly as possible. What's going on?"

"For some reason we exited hyperspace right in the middle of an ion storm, it took down most of our systems, we will need to wait until we exit the storm before we power up our systems." Grant said. "Major, now that you're up could you spread the word to the rest of the ship? The com. System went down with most other systems, hand out portable radios, hopefully they'll work in here."

"Yes sir."

The ship continued to drift to the edge of the storm. The ship's hull showed scorch marks all over and in some cases hull breaches. The little wings to the side of the long neck of the ship that housed 4 out of six Asgard Plasma Weapon systems were almost completely blown off. The other two turrets, one on each hanger bay were also destroyed; fortunately the inner hull wasn't breached. The long range com. Array, only a dozen meters away from the bridge was completely blown up. Other antennas' just hung broken, through cracks in the hull air was escaping, fortunately exposed areas were already being closed off by damage control teams.

Eight hours later, the ship exited the ion storm, it took longer than expected. One by one the lights started to come on-line again and the few remaining systems were turned back on. Meanwhile a decent headcount had been performed. 49 dead and 122 wounded of which 65 seriously leaving 383 crewmen capable of carrying out their task.

One of the first things done was making a sensor sweep of the immediate area. The sweep revealed several planets close by in two systems. One of the systems had dozens if not hundreds of contacts while the other only had a bunch of satellites and one or two space craft. After some deliberation it was decided to move in the direction of the less active system.

**Please R&R**

**the second chapter is already finished and will be posted soon. beyond that i have no idea how long it will take me to write the third chapter  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to Rudy Pena for the quick beta**

**Second chapter, enjoy!**

**USS Ticonderoga**

**Cau system**

**2100 hours **

**January 25, 2016**

The Ticonderoga had arrived in the system not so long ago. First order of business was to find a place to hide while the short range sensors, which were fortunately not damaged at all, scanned the planet. The AI had found the origin of the distress signal; it was located inside a large mountain. The planet was home to a reasonable advanced civilization, nothing comparing with earth nowadays but at the level of the US around 1970, some satellites, even one or two spacecraft. From what the sensors could detect the weapon systems could be compared to those at the beginning of WW2, nothing that could do any damage to them.

"Sir, I have finally found the name of the planet. They call it Cau, and there is only one nation, it's called the Cau Republic." Thrace said.

"Friendly?" Grant asked.

"They seem to be at peace for two hundred years. The last war ended in the unification of all the nations in the Cau Republic. It seems that close to all 700 million inhabitants are happy about their government; at least I can't find any terrorist groups or large issues like civil rights or anything. Perhaps we should send in some raptors to take a closer look, the sensors can only do so much from this far out." Thrace said. The Ticonderoga had taken its place in the asteroid belt of one of the systems gas giants. The gas giant actually shared many similarities to Jupiter. The asteroid belt was capable of hiding them from the primitive sensors of the Cau but also lowered the efficiency of their own sensors.

"Send in two raptors; make sure to them that they are not to be seen." Grant said.

"Yes sir." Thrace said. She ordered two raptors to commence scouting the planet but to remain unnoticed by the locals.

"Sir, we are picking up some strange reading from the planet, it looks like someone is signing in our direction." A young Tok'ra said.

"Any sing that they've spotted us?" Grant asked.

"I can't find anything to suggest that. Perhaps they were studying this area of the gas giant and saw us arrive." The Tok'ra suggested.

"Perhaps they're just trying to signal the other system we found, it is in the general direction of where those signs are going." Thrace suggested.

"Let the AI run a decoder, perhaps we can find out what those signals mean." Grant said.

Thrace summoned the AI which was constantly helping out repairing the ship. The AI received the order and started running a decoding program.

Several hours later the AI returned with the results of the program. The signal was directed at them and a sort of first-contact transmission was sent and being repeated.

"Colonel, what do you want to do? Do you want me to compose a reply?" the AI asked.

"For now we'll pretend we don't hear them, make sure you can send back any kind of message if necessary and ask the raptors for an update." Grant said.

The AI sent a message to the raptors and compiled a dictionary in the code the Cau used. When the raptors sent back their gathered data it was immediately forwarded to Thrace's console.

"It looks like it has already been made public that their SEL program, that stands for search for extraterrestrial life, has found an unidentified object in the asteroid belt of the planet they call Aria. Aria being the gas giant we are currently orbiting. In other words they have found us. One of the raptors reports that the Cau people are a pacifist people and that they seem to want peaceful contact with the aliens." Thrace summoned as she read through the files.

"Any other kind of reaction? Increase of their military DEFCON or anything like that?" Grant asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. Their military isn't that large, a few hundred thousand soldiers and reserves, well equipped and trained though but nothing some our troops can't handle." Thrace said.

"Okay, keep an eye out for anything else; if that was all I'm going to my quarters, you have the bridge Thrace." Grant said before he stood up from his chair and walked towards his quarters. When he arrived in his quarters he took a cup of coffee from the pot he had brewing in his own small kitchen and sat down at his desk. He took his tablet pc and started reading all the casualty and damage reports before he went to bed to catch up on some sleep.

**0543 hours **

**January 26**

Grant woke up to the sound of his radio; someone was trying to reach him. Muttering something in ancient he put in his earpiece and opened the channel to the caller. "Yeah?"

"Sir, this is Lieutenant Cole, the watch officer. We've got something interesting going on out there." The lieutenant said enthusiastic.

"Define something interesting lieutenant."

"A dozen ships arrived in system just a few minutes ago, we had to pull the raptors back to prevent discovery. There is some communication going on between the arrivals and the Cau but they seem hostile, they've activated their weapons and launched fighters and transports."

"Alright, I'm on my way to the bridge, sound general quarters and have the vipers prepare." Grant said as he got dressed and walked out of his quarters.

Less than a minute later Grant walked on the bridge and took his seat at the command chair. Thrace also just arrived and took the XO's position to the right side of the Colonel. The AI also appeared.

"Sir, the signal has changed, they are not sending out a first contact signal but more something like a 'don't shoot we are friendly' signal, but this time it is focused on the new arrivals." The AI said.

"What are they doing?" Grant asked.

"Not much but it seems that they are arming their missiles." Tico said.

"What classification would you give those new arrivals?"

"Nothing we can't handle. Their technology seems to be Goa'uld tech, but only up to the level of an Al'Kesh bomber, no shields but they do have heavy armor instead. Most of their systems are isolated so hacking won't help us much." Tico said. The fleet consisted of two enormous cruisers making up the core of the fleet while ten smaller destroyers surrounded them. Even though the destroyers were smaller then the cruisers they easily dwarfed the Ticonderoga.

"Move us out of the asteroid belt and make sure they can see us. " Grant ordered.

Not a minute later a signal was received from the planet, directly aimed at them.

"Sir, that signal has been focused on us again. They are requesting help; the new arrivals seem to be hostile to them and are threatening to destroy them if they do not surrender." Thrace said.

"Move us in closer to the planet, raise the shields to full strength but do not yet arm weapons nor launch the Vipers. When you've done that I need you to open a channel to that force in orbit."

"Sir, our shields are only at 20 percent, it will take time to recharge them to higher levels." Thrace warned.

"Just hope we won't need to use the shields. Move us in between the fleet and the planet." Grant said.

"Sir, I have the commander of the enemy fleet on the line." A Colonial lieutenant said.

"On screen." Grant waited a few seconds until the screen showed an old looking man, he was looking angry for the interruption. "Unknown fleet, this is the Tau'ri federation vessel Ticonderoga, please state your intentions."

"_What is it that you want, before nightfall this planet will be ours. I suggest you do not intervene." _The man said.

"We won't allow you to conquer an innocent race without a reason. If you attempt to do so we will use deadly force to stop you." Grant said.

"_How dare you to threaten the Aschen Federacy, we will make you unto dust!" _The angry commander replied.

Grant along with others on the bridge was stunned by that revelation, the Aschen hadn't been heard of after the failed negotiations more than a decade ago.

"Sir, their fighters are moving towards the planet and they have aimed their weapons at us." Thrace reported. She obviously missed the shocked faces of most Earth personnel.

"Aschen fleet, stand down or be destroyed, this is your last warning." Grant said to the commander. He leaned over to Thrace. "Thrace, get the vipers launched and send them after those fighters going towards the planet."

"_This is YOUR last warning, pack up your fighters and get out of my sight!" _the commander hissed in anger.

"Sir, four fighter squadrons are incoming, CDBR 18000 meters and closing in fast." A lieutenant said.

Grant was annoyed by the stance of the enemy. "Arm all weapons and task the railguns to anti-fighter duties." Grant ordered.

"Vampire Vampire Vampire, enemy has launched missiles, 200 plus. Other weapons are opening fire and fighters are engaging!" Thrace said. Alarms started blaring all over the bridge.

"Return fire, all weapons. Tell the vipers to destroy the enemy fighters."

As one the nineteen operational railguns started firing taking down missiles and fighters alike. The enemy fighters turned around in shock by the devastation caused by such a small ship. Only a dozen missiles got through the defense screen. All the missiles impacted the shields harmlessly. Within a minute a defensive screen was established.

"Screen established and our vipers have engaged the enemy fighters, they have been joined by Cau fighters although they are more of a hindrance than help." Thrace said.

"Launch missiles and re-task idle railguns to fire on the enemy capital ships."

Six nuclear missiles sped fourth from their silos on top of the Ticonderoga. While the missiles were en-route to their targets streams of railgun rounds flew by them already damaging the enemy ships. Four missiles were intercepted by point defense systems and the fifth malfunctioned and detonated prematurely wiping out a large portion of the enemy fighters and causing an EMP blinding the enemy ships. The Ticonderoga however was protected against EMP assaults and had no trouble with it. The sixth missile got through the now blinded defenses and detonated against what Grant assumed was one of two cruisers. The cruiser was incinerated and two nearby destroyers were destroyed. The other cruiser suffered moderate damage and kept on fighting. The remaining eight destroyers split up in three groups, one group of two remained behind with the damaged cruiser while the other two groups each flanked the Ticonderoga.

Grant knew they were trying to surround them and ordered the Ticonderoga to close in on the remaining cruiser. As the Ticonderoga closed in, more and more weapons were fired at it. When the Ticonderoga was at point blank range it opened fire with all its railguns and a dozen conventional missiles. They targeted hostile gun mounts and the power core. When the Ticonderoga passed underneath the cruiser exploded violently. The shock of the explosion rocked the Ticonderoga and took the shields down about ten percent.

"Sir Shields are at 7 percent, we are getting reports of minor hull breaches." Thrace said.

"Launch more missiles, target the enemy weapons. If we take those out they won't be able to harm us."

"The vipers are reporting hostile forces landing, they are unable to intercept." A lieutenant said.

"We can't send any marines right now, but as soon as this battle is over we'll send down a number of marines."

The Ticonderoga continued pouring railgun slugs into her targets, only three destroyers were remaining. The other five destroyers had been destroyed, their debris scattered in orbit over the planet Cau.

"Life support is failing on target Delta five, Delta two is heavily damaged and Delta nine has a reactor overload." Thrace reported.

"Destroy Delta two and nine but leave Delta five. Get a boarding party ready to board that destroyer. Have the rest prepare to intercept those forces that landed on the surface." Grant said.

"Beaming systems are off-line, we only have four raptors. We can't send that much people over there without risking them being cut off." Thrace warned.

"We have no other way to get our people over there."

"The Cau Republic is still trying to reach us, what do you want me to do about them?" An officer asked.

"Put them on." Grant said reluctant.

"_Hello, is anyone out there? Can you hear us? This is General Meiron of the Cau republic army, can anyone hear me?"_

"General Meiron, this is Colonel Grant of the Tau'ri Federation ship Ticonderoga. What can we do to help you with sir?"

"_Ah, finally, thank you for responding at last, we've been trying to reach you all day long. On behalf of the People of Cau I want to thank you for taking care of those Aschen. I wouldn't know what we'd have done if you hadn't shown up." _

"You were lucky; we reacted to an automated distress call sent out from your planet." Grant said.

"_I don't know anything about any beacon, unless you mean our SEL program?"_

"No, about a week ago we started receiving an automated distress call from this planet. It has something to do with the protectors of your planet thousands of years ago. It was an automated distress call; it probably detected those attackers and determined they were a big enough threat to you to warrant a call. We arrived here a day ago, did take some damage though."

"_Well, I think we need to talk person to person soon. My government has authorized me to invite you to open diplomatic ties between our peoples, is there anything you need?"_

"Well, we are currently mopping up the last of the attackers, once that is done I'd like to have a place to land my ship, repairs would be much easier if we're not in space."

"_How big a place do you need?"_

"Just a few square kilometers of flat terrain will do."

"_Can you track the origin of this call?" _when Grant positively replied he continued. _There is a city, about 200 kilometers north of here, it is our capital, several kilometers to the south there is a clearing, it used to be a military base but it has since long been abandoned and destroyed. If the terrain suits you, you can land there."_

Grant nodded to Thrace who had the computer ran a simulation for landing viability which quickly determined it viable. "It seems that our ship will fit. I think we need about half an hour to get things done here after that it'll take about ten minutes to land the ship and another ten before anyone can leave the ship. I'd advise you to stay at least a hundred meters away until you see anyone exit the ship itself, I'll explain later."

"_Very well, we'll have a greeting party stand by as soon as the ship is ready. I will be waiting for you colonel. General Meiron out."_

The connection was ended and Grant turned towards his XO. "I've ready quite some first contact reports from SG-1, never did it go over so smoothly. This must be a first."

Right at that moment Shaw entered the bridge, wearing full combat gear and a Colonial battle rifle. "Sir, you wanted me to board something?"

Grant just pointed his finger at the last remaining destroyer. "Take all four raptors and bring me back some useful Intel or perhaps the keys to that thing. It doesn't have any air as their life support is down so make sure you have breathing gear packed." Grant said. Shaw walked off but was stopped by Grant. "And get back here in thirty minutes, I want my chief of security present when we bring the ship down to meet the locals, we have an invite." After giving a salute Shaw walked away to join the boarding crews.

Down in the hanger bay, the four raptors were already waiting for the soldiers. Six marines per raptor, each group forming a team of five with one extra specialist. Within minutes the raptors took off and set course for the derelict warship. Several auxiliary airlocks were quickly located and holes were burned through the hull. Minutes later all four teams were on board the ship and their sensors indicated no oxygen but no radiation or poisons so only simple breathing gear would be required. Small shield generators were place to cover the new holes in the hull and the raptors left to pick up new teams from the Ticonderoga.

Since the teams had boarded amidships two of the teams went forwards while the other two teams went backwards. It was a giant ship and nobody knew what kind of internal defenses there could be so they were all alert. All over the ship bodies were spread out through the corridors, most had died from lack of oxygen but some had died due to injuries sustained in the battle with the Ticonderoga. Within ten minutes the auxiliary control room and the bridge had been found. Unfortunately Shaw didn't have time to investigate them properly as the Ticonderoga would soon be going down to the planet. She left the ship to her second in command.

"Sir, Major Shaw's raptor is aboard, we are ready for descent." Thrace reported.

Grant flipped a switch on his command chair and addressed the crew. "Crew of the Ticonderoga, in a few minutes we'll be entering the planet's atmosphere, although this has been done many times I want all repair crews to stop working and get away from any hull breaches and weak areas. Once on the ground you can continue your repairs." Grant flipped the switch again turning the PA of. "Colonel Thrace, this isn't just your first time but it is also mine, take us in, nice and steady."

The Ticonderoga moved lower and lower, quickly picking up speed as the planet's gravity started to pull the ship in. As they entered the atmosphere flames appeared around the shields. The lower the Ticonderoga got the more flames appeared around it. As they moved through the atmosphere they trailed a long trail of flames and smoke showing everyone they were coming in. it took the Ticonderoga two rounds around the planet to reach an optimal approach before they finally slowed down till they only moved with the speed of an old Boeing 747. They could have made a steeper descent as the 303 and 304's used to do back when the program was still a secret but too many risks were involved with it. Just before they reached the landing site they flew over a large lake, at only a few hundred meters above it the heat of the still glowing shields evaporated much of the lake, and it did cool the shields down. Nevertheless several bushes caught fire as they passed over. The movement of air caused by the ship quickly extinguished the fires. Reaching the landing site, the ship's thrusters brought forward momentum back to nothing and gently lowered the ship down to the soft grass. The ship sat down and sank half a meter due to its weight before finally turning its engines off. After a minute the glowing shields disappeared and several hisses could be heard of systems cooling down.

"Colonel Grant, we're down." Thrace said proudly, she hadn't been at the helm for a week and she had already made one of the most dangerous maneuvers known to her.

"Congratulations Colonel, perhaps we can attempt not to evaporate that lake the next time, overall you did a damn great job." Grant stood up and walked up to the screen. "Now power down all systems and have the repair crew continue their work, signal me when it is safe to exit the ship. Have a detachment of marines stand by, side arms only and full dress uniforms for the officers." Grant walked off to his quarters to put on his uniform.

Ten minutes later Shaw, Thrace, Grant and several other officers had assembled near the lower airlock. This was one of the few airlocks that were close enough to the ground to step out without requiring a ladder. Four marines were waiting for them outside the ship wearing only side arms while eight marines were just inside the ship fully armed and out of sight.

As the party left the ship several military trucks approached them. Although most of the trucks carried soldiers, no weapons were aimed at them. One of the vehicles looked more luxurious and less military then the rest. The trucks stopped twenty meters away and the soldiers quickly exited them and took position around them, still not making any hostile moves. The doors of the luxurious car opened and a man in an impressive uniform exited. He walked over to the officers and was accompanied by who seemed to be the commander of the local forces.

"Colonel Grant I presume?" Meiron asked.

"And you must be general Meiron." Grant said as he gave the general a salute. "Sorry about that lake back there, we hadn't thought about the side effects of a planetary entry with a ship as big as ours."

"That's okay, some archeologists wanted to pump it dry anyways, there are convinced that there is some kind of treasure down there, you just saved everyone a lot of money, we can only be thankful for saving money and our freedom from those monsters." Meiron said.

"We only did what was right. Please let me introduce to you my XO Colonel Kara Thrace, my chief of security Major Shaw." As grant introduced the other officers General Meiron shook everybody's hand.

"Before we continue I have a favor to ask you." Meiron said.

"Sure, what is it?"

"We would like your help with driving of the invaders, we noticed that your fighters are very advanced and we hoped they could help execute bombardments and perhaps some support of your soldiers." Meiron asked.

"Sure thing." Grant motioned one of the marines to come closed and asked her for her radio. "Lieutenant Cole, the General Meiron has requested our support in dealing with the invaders, send the vipers and have two platoons move out with the raptors."

"Yes sir, the first vipers are launching momentarily." Lt. Cole replied.

And less than a minute later two vipers sped out of the hanger bay, some of the Cau soldiers were shocked by the speed of the fighters, the ships AI had compared the Cau fighters to Spitfires and B-17's.

"Impressive fighters you have there, Colonel. Tell me, what are they called"

"We call them Vipers, they are designed by a people known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, we are currently on a joint mission with them and several other allied races."

"So there are more races out there?"

"Yes there are general, fortunately most of them are friendly. Together with our allies we try to fight those that would act as enemies rather than friendly."

"I would like to learn more about your people and your mission and so does my government. If it is alright with you I would like to move towards a better suited area in the capital city where talks can commence between our two peoples."

"That'd be lovely. I do hope I can take my escort, not that we don't thrust you but it is just procedure." Grant replied.

"Of course. Unfortunately my car is not big enough to accommodate all your officers and escorts, would some of them mind following in one of the trucks?"

"I think that will be possible. Thrace and Shaw, you're with me, the rest of you find a place in those trucks, and be friendly." Grant, Thrace and Shaw walked with the General to his car while the other officers and soldiers found a place in the trucks that were going back with them. Two trucks remained as security personnel for the ship and to troubleshoot if anything came up.

The trip to the capital only took ten minutes, most of the route had been cordoned off and local police and military were patrolling the roads near the route. An honor guard had been assembled at the entrance to the general assembly building, their version of the Capitol. They were lead to a large room housing what appeared to be the Cau republic senate. Above the seats for the senate an area was visible through glass windows, Grant could see primitive cameras and what he assumed were people of the press. He and his officers were seated on a long table obviously quickly set up to host their visitors. The four guards stood in back in their black uniforms wishing they wore the summer variant instead of the winter version. Throughout the senate security personnel were spread, most carried weapons although concealed but some had holstered their side arms on their hips.

General Meiron walked forwards to where a seemingly important person was seated and brought a sharp salute. "Mister President, I would like to present Colonel Grant of the Tau'ri Federation Ship Ticonderoga, His XO Colonel Thrace and his Chief of Security Major Shaw along with several other senior officers." General Meiron said as he pointed to each of the officers. "Colonel Grant, meet President Henry Melios of the Cau republic.

The President stood up and walked over to the table where the officers were seated. They all stood up as he approached them. "Colonel Grant, On behalf of the Cau Republic we thank you very, very much for destroying that hostile fleet. I heard your ship needed to set down for repairs, if there is anything you need just say so and we will try to get it for you." The president said while shaking the Colonel's hand. "Please Colonel; tell us more about your ship and your home world."

"First off I'd like to thank General Meiron, president Melios and the Cau republic for its warm welcome." Grant said. He had to wait for a bit as the senators clapped. When they finally settled down he continued. "I am from a planet called Earth. The Ship, the Ticonderoga is also built by the government on that planet, the newly created Tau'ri Federation. Although the ship is Tau'ri federation the crew is not completely. The mission the Ticonderoga was sent on is an experiment with people from different races and planets. About 22 years ago we discovered to workings of a device known to us as the stargate. The stargate has the ability to transfer someone to another planet instantly. Since the first time we opened the gate we've been exploring the galaxy trying to find ways to defend our planet from threats such as the Aschen that attacked you here today. We've had to fight several wars in those 22 years but most have been won. Unfortunately some are still ongoing, one of those wars led to an all out attack on our home world not so long ago. Eventually the attack was defeated but at a heavy cost. It was during that battle that a distress call was intercepted from this planet. See, we as the Tau'ri have made quite some friends out there and one of those friends, the Asgard had this treaty. The treaty was called the Protected Planets treaty. It was a way to ensure the safety from an enemy that once ruled the stars. The Asgard had chosen most of the planets in this treaty but a few were admitted per request of one of their allies long ago that ally had probably installed an automated warning system on this planet."

"As soon as the battle for Earth was over the Ticonderoga received additional crew and several quick upgrades before it set course to this planet. Unfortunately we didn't know there was an ion storm surrounding this sector of space and a hyperspace barrier –we use hyperspace as a means of FTL travel- pulled us out of hyperspace right in the middle of it. The ship took some serious damage to its most advanced systems in that Ion Storm and was basically crippled as any powered system would be destroyed. Eventually we exited the Ion Storm and scanned the surrounding area. We found two systems. This one and another one with a lot of ships present. We chose this system as it had less chance of detection or hostile encounters. We were observing your planet when the Aschen fleet arrived and showed hostile intentions against your people. It was a hostile action against an innocent and undefended race and our rules state that in such case the commander is authorized to intervene, preferably peaceful but if necessary with force. And we all know how that ended. And now we are here." Grant concluded.

"That is an impressive story Colonel Grant. I am sure the Senate wants to ask you many questions so if they can all come in one by one with their questions so that it won't be a madhouse." President Melios said.

The first senator stood up and walked towards a microphone. "Colonel Grant, could you share some more light on the technological capabilities of your ship?"

"Of course sir. The TFS Ticonderoga is a Deadelus class battle cruiser. The primary task of the Deadelus class is to defend Earth and its allies to any kind of threat and to explore the galaxies. Currently the Deadelus class is the only class currently in service. A second more powerful class of ships is being built. The Deadelus fields several advantages over its predecessors, the Prometheus class. The Deadelus class has incorporated many Asgard technologies and has taken a look at the designs of our allies' ships. Except for the ships of the Asgard themselves the Deadelus class is the most powerful ship known to man and still operated. Systems of the Deadelus class include Asgard Beaming systems, Asgard Plasma beam weapons, an Asgard Hyperdrive, Asgard shields and an Asgard core. Unfortunately most of these systems have either been destroyed or damaged with our arrival here. Fortunately the Deadelus class also fields some Earth designed weapons and systems, like railguns and missiles of which several nuclear and enhanced with Naquadah or Naquadria. Normally a Deadelus class ship would carry 16 earth designed F-302 fighter interceptors. For this mission the Ticonderoga received its fighter complement from one of our allies, the twelve colonies of Kobol. These fighters are called Vipers and because they are smaller twenty could be taken with us. As we speak the Viper compliment is performing air raids on Aschen strongholds on this planet per request of General Meiron. I hope that answers your question with satisfaction?"

The Senator was a little beaten back by the elaborate answer. "Yes, yes it was."

Another senator walked to the microphone to ask his question. "Colonel, you mentioned other races and civilizations like the Asgard and the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, can you tell me more about those?"

"I can tell you a lot about the Asgard, but for a detailed answer on the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, I'd like to give the word to Colonel Thrace of the Colonial fleet." Grant said.

"The Twelve Colonies of Kobol are spread out over twelve primary planets named Caprica, Picon, Virgon, Saggitaron, Scorpia, Tauron, Leonis, Libran, Gemenon, Canceron and Aquaria. Since long there has been war among the different colonies. Usually those wars are about religion and greed. Since the creation of a robotic kind that later rebelled all the twelve colonies are combined. First to fight the Cylons in the first war and later again to fight in the second war, which was won with the help of the Tau'ri. Since the second war the colonies have been expanding their sphere of influence and colonizing other planets." Thrace said.

Grant stood up as Thrace sat down. "The Asgard are an old and intelligent race. When they had the choice to enhance their lives via cloning or remain human and have a chance at ascension they choose cloning. Unfortunately up till a few years ago that decision to clone themselves had led them to nearly die out. It was only with the help of the Tau'ri that they survived. The Asgard were the original protectors of the protected planets treaty, most of the planets were added to keep them safe from the Goa'uld but some were added per request from the Ancients, a race that lived thousands of years ago. These days the Asgard are rebuilding from a long and terrible war in their home galaxy and rarely show up in large numbers. Only in order to defend friends and allies they will send out their mighty ships."

"Furthermore there are many other races, several of those are forming an alliance, most notably for this alliance are the Tau'ri Federation, The Free Jaffa Nation, the Nox, The Asgard, The Colonies, the Tok'ra and several other smaller nations spread throughout three galaxies."

"Colonel Grant, you spoke of enemies, can you name a few?"

"A lot of our enemies have already been defeated; the Free Jaffa Nation was built on the remains of the Goa'uld Empire. The Cylons have capitulated and have moved to the Asgard home galaxy where the Asgard will keep an eye on them. Right now we are just starting a war with a new group, they call themselves the Vanir and are in fact a lost tribe of the Asgard. The Vanir have allied themselves with the Wraith, and because of that alliance Earth was attacked recently. Currently our fleet is repairing the damage done and will soon set of to fight the Wraith and Vanir in the Pegasus Galaxy. And I think we just declared war on the Aschen."

"I might be ahead of things here, but is it possible for a nation like the Cau republic to join this new Alliance you spoke of?"

"As a matter of Facts, the Cau Republic is already part of it, the Tau'ri Federation currently administrates the Protected Planets treaty, and therefore all planets in it are seen as Tau'ri Federation planets and the entire alliance will protect this planet if necessary." Grant said. It caused some shock but also joy. These people seemed to be very welcoming and open to outsiders, not something usually seen in the Milky Way galaxy.

At that moment one of the marine's radio started crackling. _"Colonel Grant, please come in."_

Grant motioned the marine to give the radio to him after he apologized to the senate. "What is it Cole?"

"_Sir, the marines at the Aschen invasion point report massive civilian and military Cau casualties and request permission to bring those most in need to the Ticonderoga."_ Cole replied.

"Give them the all clear, no weapons use the raptors and free up as much as possible beds. Make sure the local commanders agree, I'll make sure the leaders agree." Grant replied.

"_Yes sir. Cole out."_

**Aschen invasion point**

**1900 hours**

**Command center**

One of Ticonderoga's raptors just arrived to pick up a new group of wounded. First out of the raptor was a team of medics; they'd start working triage on site. Last to exit the raptor was Major Shaw. She just returned from the meeting with the Cau senate. Now she needed to lead her soldiers from the Cau local command centre. The command centre was nothing more than a few tents grouped together. A kilometer ahead laid the battlefield. The Aschen forces had conquered a small town with about ten thousand inhabitants. The local garrison was quickly overwhelmed but troops from a military base an hour away were immediately dispatched. When the local garrison was destroyed the Aschen forces turned to the population and started killing indiscriminately. The air was filled with dust and the stench of dead bodies. Shaw could hear many different planes and quickly noticed the noise of a group of vipers. A few seconds' later four vipers flew over information before launching missiles at targets in the city. A young Cau Lieutenant walked up to Shaw and introduced himself as the commander's aid. She followed the lieutenant into one of the larger tents and met there with the commander. The commander and his officers were all standing around a large table with an equally large map on it.

"Major Shaw I presume?" the commander asked.

"Yes sir." Shaw said as she saluted the man.

""I am General Vorlog of the sixth Mechanized division, I must really thank you, your raptors are saving quite a lot of lives and your vipers as you call them are a miracle."

"Yes sir, they are. What can you tell me about the enemy?"

"They started out at the strength of an infantry division, about ten thousand men. Since this morning they have lost almost 2000 soldiers while we've captured about 400. Since I arrived they haven't left that city and have begun to dig in. it is taking quite some time to root them all out. It appears they rather die than surrender. Right now it is a house to house fight which is taking heavy casualties on my forces. Because there are still some civilians in the city we cannot use large scale artillery bombardments or airstrikes."

"We, might be able to find out where the civvies are and where the hostile forces are, I'd need at least one raptor for it but it is doable. In the meantime I want to use my troops to clear out hose buildings and give sniper support; we have quite some experience with that."

"That would be very great Major, please do whatever you need."

Shaw gave a salute before heading off. One hour later the vipers started precise bombardments and the troops of the Ticonderoga moved into the city to escort the civvies out and to destroy any remaining Aschen pocket of resistance. When it turned dark the soldiers became even more effective using night vision equipment. Before dawn the Aschen force was destroyed. Several hundred more had been taken prisoner but most were either buried under the rubble of destroyed houses or killed by soldiers. Casualties on the Cau side only decreased as time passed. Shaw's troops lost about a dozen soldiers, usually by collapsing buildings or a lone sniper that managed to hit its target for once before being blasted to bits by missiles launched by vipers.

**Please let me know your thoughts and comments, for those who know how I normally respond, someone told me it wasn't allowed to post reviews at the end of every chapter so I'm going to personally answer them.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: so i felt it was about ****time for the next chapter, some things will be explained that people asked me about and more discoveries are being made!**

**Thanks to Rudy Pena for the beta  
**

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**Planet Cau**

**1530 hours**

**January 27 2016**

General Meiron walked towards the exit of the Ticonderoga. He was escorted by Colonel Grant.

"So what about this Aschen Federacy?" Meiron asked.

"From what we could conclude from the captured destroyer's databanks they were stranded in this system like us over four thousand years ago, at that point their technology was not unlike ours if we hadn't discovered the stargate. They colonized that other star system and have called it home ever since. They probably found an Al'kesh that got stranded as well and scavenged it for technology." Grant said.

"I've heard you are sending out an expedition to the temple tomorrow?"

"Yes, we are going to investigate the signal and the system that sent it, perhaps it can explain in greater detail what threat there exactly was and if perhaps this planet is still under threat."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck with your expedition." Meiron said as he shook hands with Grant before he stepped out of the Ticonderoga. Once outside he looked up to see a few people working on the ship repairing it. "How are the repairs going, do you require our help?"

"It'll take time to repair the ship to a reasonable status. To completely repair the ship we'd need several weeks in space dock back home. For now, this will have to do."

"Well, good luck." Meiron said. He walked over to his car and stepped in. around the 304 several guard posts were constructed, since the announcement of the friendly nature of the Tau'ri several locals had been to exited and wanted to enter the ship itself to greet the crew.

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**Hanger bay**

**0820 hours**

**January 28**

In the remaining hanger bay, the three raptors that were to be used for the expedition were ready to receive their passengers. Colonel Thrace would lead the expedition.

"Okay, we need to divide ourselves over three raptors, Colonel Grant has full confidence that it will go off without a hitch but I do not, so I've made a small list. Raptor one, Me, Major Shaw, Lieutenant Hailey, Sergeant Harder, Privates Heat, Messer, Wells, Vernal and Larau and Cadet Frasier, Hotdog, you're the pilot." She named the people who were to go into raptor two and the rest was directed to raptor three.

Ten minutes later after all the equipment had been stored and everybody had been seated properly the three raptors departed with an escort of four vipers. Somehow the Cau had found out about their mission as all the cities and towns on their route were waving to them.

"You've got to question why they are so happy about us being here." Shaw said.

"Maybe it has something to do with them being rescued from slavery and death and a pacifist attitude." Thrace shot back.

"Thank gods it was us who found them and not the Cylons or Goa'uld, imagine what they would have done to these people." Shaw said.

"Colonel, we are three minutes out." Hotdog said.

"Thanks hotdog." Thrace said as she patted hotdog on the shoulder. She activated her com link "Alright people we are three minutes out from the target, I want the marines to secure the landing site before the scientists go out. Keep any locals at distance; we do not want them to start hugging us. Use non (I think you mean just lethal and not non-lethal. If so just take out the non part) lethal force only as a last resort."

Two copies' came back from the senior officer onboard the other two raptors.

Three minutes later the raptors were able to set down in the remote area the temple was located in. Fortunately no locals were present, Thrace thought it had something to do with the grounds being sacred for them. Fortunately the Cau counsel had given them permission to enter the temple. The hatches opened and the marines jumped out quickly, weapons raised but on safe. When it was clear that there was no threat the rest jumped out of the raptors.

"Heat, Vernal and Larau, guard the raptors with the pilots, the rest of us will explore the temple." Thrace ordered. The temple was hidden inside a large mountain, very few Cau had ever entered it but those who came out had changed, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. The last time a Cau entered the temple was over 200 years ago, the man had come out and later ended that last war before the Cau Republic was formed. "Major Shaw, Sergeant Harder take point, Messer and Wells will take the rear; the rest of us will stay in the middle." The 27 people formed up and Shaw and Harder walked through the entrance of the temple.

After about ten minutes the first soldiers entered a large room, there were consoles arranged along the walls and the centre held a chair and some more consoles. When more people entered the room lights turned on and the consoles came to life. After a brief glance at the screens that hovered above the consoles Thrace determined it was Ancient writing. She ordered Cadet Frasier and Lieutenant Hailey to take a look and interface if possible. The two women quickly moved to the nearest console and plugged their tablet PC's in. after some tapping the screens of their Tablet's started to fill up with rapports and alerts.

"Frasier, what's going on?" Thrace asked.

"This looks to be an Ancient lab, possibly left behind by Janus himself." Frasier said.

"Interesting." Shaw said.

"No Major, that isn't interesting. What **is** interesting is that it appears that there is another station… in the sun. We've never found a race that could build a station near the sun let alone **in** the sun." Hailey corrected the Major. Hailey was probably the youngest chief engineer in the entire Tau'ri fleet.

"In the sun, how do we get there?" Thrace asked.

"There is a small hanger bay on top of this mountain which has some puddle jumpers; perhaps they are modified to enter the station. Janus did have a knack for placing his labs in places where no one would suspect them." Frasier said.

"What is the purpose of that lab?"

"Let me see." Hailey said while she read more of the information on her screen. After a minute or so she entered a series of commands and out of nowhere a hologram appeared. "Got it."

The Hologram looked exactly like Janus did back in the day when he was working on Atlantis. After giving everyone a quick onceover he started explaining. "Hello, I am Janus, I am of a race you call Ancients. During my travels through time I have encountered many beautiful things, I have witnessed civilizations rise and fall due to some alien power. When I encountered the Tau'ri, I decided that it was time to change that. The Tau'ri are unlike any other race I have ever encountered. Peaceful, yet always ready to wage truly destructive wars for what they hold dear. When I followed the Tau'ri I found that their fate was not yet sealed as it was for so many others. Far away in the unknown sleeps a truly horrible enemy, a thousand times worse than the Goa'uld, Wraith or any other enemy you have encountered or ever will encounter. In order to give the Tau'ri and their allies a chance to fight this enemy, I have spent my final days preparing this outpost and the nearby located station. By the time you are able to open this message you will have reached the point where I can truly give you the tools to survive. In the station you will find several objects of great power that will help you in the short and long term. There are several gate ships located nearby, use them to enter the station and I will await you there."

"Okay. What do we do now?" Shaw asked.

"Isn't that obviously major, we are going to that station." Hailey said while she walked to a door that according to her scans lead to the jumper bay.

"Whoah there, hold on for a minute. Jumpers need ATA genes to operate, who here has it?" Thrace asked.

"I have it; I received the therapy and have been one of the best operators since." Frasier said. Another marine raised his hand signaling he too could pilot a jumper.

"Alright, we'll split up. Shaw, you take Hailey and some others and remain here to investigate this further. Try also to contact the Ticonderoga, tell Grant what we've found and that we perhaps need his help. I'll take Frasier, this pilot and a team of scientists plus a squad of marines and secure that station." Thrace said.

A chorus of yes sirs and yes ma'am's echoed through the room as people started splitting up. Hailey looked obviously dissatisfied. Thrace led her group towards the jumper bay.

The jumper bay looked similar to that of Atlantis, although it did not have a second row of jumpers and only four were stored. Because they had only two people who had the ATA and could actually fly jumpers, they were limited to two jumpers. The scientists spread out over the two jumpers and so did the marines. After a minute of familiarizing themselves and taking pre flight checks the top hatch opened and the two jumpers sped out towards the sky.

**Jumper one**

Colonel Thrace and Cadet Frasier had settled in the first jumper and led the way when the radio crackled to life.

"Colonel, this is the Ticonderoga, did I understand Major Shaw correctly and are you going to fly into the sun?" Grant asked.

"Yes sir, according to Cadet Frasier the Station is slightly out of phase and the jumpers have that same ability, when we get near the station we will phase but we should be able to remain in contact with you, something Janus thought of." Thrace asked.

"We have not yet been able to detect this station or any phase technology. Are you sure it's there?" Grant asked.

"Yes sir, Janus built this station to last, I'm sure about it." Frasier pitched in.

"Very well, good luck."

"Thrace out."

After some time the jumpers approached the sun. An automated alert started to blare indicating that there was an auto-guide to the station much alike to when a jumpers approaches an active stargate. Saving herself the trouble she activated the guide and the jumper swiftly phased with the second jumper not far behind.

The station looked much like the defense satellite in the original system of Atlantis, although this satellite was bulkier and had a large central section with arms stretching out from it. Attached to those arms were some sort of solar rods. To the back of the station four massive tubes were located, each tube over 1.5 kilometers long and several hundred meters wide and high. The two jumpers moved to a dual docking bay and the two jumpers got in backwards.

After everyone readied their gear, the hatch was opened and the group stepped out. Next to them, the second jumper did the same. Frasier, who had some more experience with ancient outposts and stations pointed out the direction of the control room. Along the way to the control room, the light turned on automatically just like what happened the first time the Atlantis expedition entered the city.

Once they reached the control room the team spread out and those with the ancient gene activated several consoles.

"Frasier, what does it say?" Thrace asked.

"Eh, just give me a minute please. Power is good, shields are up and the phase systems are also intact. This station is remarkably well preserved."

"That's great, how old is it?" Thrace asked.

"About ten thousand years. I'm surprised it is still in such a good shape, most ancient outposts had at least some damage due to wear and tear." Frasier said.

"But of course it is well preserved, I built this station myself." A strange man said. All marines trained their weapons on the man. The man wore Ancient robes and he had an air of science around him. He seemed unnerved by all the weapons trained on him and slowly continued to Cadet Frasier.

"You are Janus aren't you?" She asked.

"Yes, I am the one you refer to as Janus. As to your question on how I am still alive after ten thousand years, it is simple. After I constructed this station I put the station in a time dilation field, that coupled to a stasis chamber allowed me to live over ten thousand years and still do some research. For me the evacuation from Atlantis is just over five years ago." Janus explained. Meanwhile Thrace had lowered her weapon and signaled the rest to do the same. One scientist had actually grabbed his camera and filmed the entire explanation.

"Mister Janus, I am Colonel Thrace, I am the leader of this expedition. It is an honor to meet an actual living Ancient. Honestly we… I hadn't expected you to be alive."

"Oh please, we weren't that impressive, you should know that we left behind a legion of troubles including the Wraith, Vanir and several other things."

"Yes, about those enemies, you mentioned one worse than anything we've ever encountered. What about them?" Frasier said.

"For now they are not aware of your existence something that will change in some time and there is nothing you can do about it, only prepare for it. That is where this station and I come in. this station is one of the few remaining potentia factories. Furthermore this station, this entire system plus another one are protected by a hyperspace barrier hidden in an ion storm."

"We noticed. That ion storm nearly destroyed our ship and killed several crewmembers." Thrace said dryly.

"By potentia, do you mean a ZPM?" Frasier asked.

"Ah, Zero Point Modules, that is right. It takes about three months to create one. I am sorry for the loss of live to your crew, but I do think that the defenses are necessary. As you have already found out there is another group out there, they too entered the other system and took similar damage, and they settled and found several derelict Goa'uld warships that also crashed in that system. I was unable to stop them. When they became a threat to the Cau I sent out a distress call to the only ones capable of helping them, the Tau'ri."

I guess there is more in this station then ZPM's right, perhaps a map of ancient outposts in the Pegasus galaxy or schematics for other advanced technology?" Frasier said.

"Even better." Janus said, he walked to a part of the wall and just waved his hand over a specific part and the wall just disappeared. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you.

After quite some time walking through the corridors of the station they reached a large heavy door. Janus waved his hand over a panel and another panel revealed itself, on that panel Janus entered several codes and finally the door opened slowly. What was in there shocked them extremely.

"Aurora." Was the only thing Frasier said. Behind the door was the most forward sections of an 1.5 kilometer long aurora class warship. The ship did show signs of heavy damage, whole sections were opened up and other parts of the hull were blackened by scorch marks.

**Bridge**

**TFS Ticonderoga**

"You've found what!" Grant exclaimed. The ship was just contacted by the station Thrace was sent to explore. Needless to say he was surprised by the report she gave him.

"_A ZPM factory, that plus we've found four Aurora's sir. All of them are heavily damaged but still capable of being a match for a 304 at top efficiency, that plus they have a ZPM. The aurora's are of a late war model, they have increased energy weapons and less drones, apparently their drone factories were prime targets for the Wraith. These Aurora's are way better than those we've found; the Aurora, Orion and Tria were all pre-war."_ Thrace said.

"Can we transfer some of our engineer crew to repair those ships; it would be valuable to at least have them support the Ticonderoga. Perhaps we can get a ZPM from that station to enhance our performances." Grant replied.

"_According to Janus he has two spare ZPM's although he wishes to keep one at the station. For transferring engineers, you'd better wait as Janus is starting up the first aurora, he'll fly it out of the sun into a stable orbit of the Cau planet."_

"Can those ships survive the sun?"

"_These aurora's have some upgrades remember, one of them is phase shifting technology, perhaps also a reason why we haven't found any more lying around in the Pegasus or Milky Way galaxies."_

"Very well, as soon as Janus is done I'd like to meet him. In the meantime I want you to inquiry what he is willing to do for us. Ticonderoga out." Grant said. "Adama sure as hell wasn't lying when he said she'd always bring a new ride." Grant muttered.

"Sir, the repair reports." A person said while he handed Grant a USB stick. Grant remembered the man -well boy was a better word- as the personal assistant of Admiral Adama, Private Jeffrey, one of the best in his job according to Adama. Grant plugged the USB stick into an USB access port on the side of his chair and the report scrolled over a small screen built into the armrest. Shields were up another 15 percent, the Asgard core was already getting energy, no hope on the hyperdrive, perhaps they could slave a jump drive from a raptor and have the jump field encompass the entire ship. Nevertheless, the techies weren't sure if it would allow them to jump outside the system due to the hyperspace barrier. All primary hull breaches were sealed, they would need a space flight or a dive in an ocean to completely test it but that could wait till later.

The Aschen ship they'd captured was in better condition; its engines were fine and after two naquadah generators were hooked up life support and the computers came back as well. Most of its weapons were destroyed and there were still some hull breaches but those were being sealed with portable shield generators. More important, the communications array was completely intact, although unable to transmit to Earth, they might be able to raise the Twelve Colonies which were much closer.

"Lieutenant Cole, tell the tech teams to make cracking their communication systems their top priority. If we can call the Colonials they can forward the message to Earth." Grant said.

"Yes sir."Cole replied. Cole went to work on sending the technicians on the captured destroyer which was named Cau a message.

A nearby console beeped and the attending officer quickly read the screen. "Sir, we are getting a ship's signature near the sun, the sensors aren't able to make out a type yet."

"Don't bother, it's one of Janus's ships, have the computer compare it with an Aurora." Grant replied.

The officer complied and reported the results. "Preliminary scans are saying it is an Aurora class warship although it has some differences."

"Like?"

"It is larger for one thing; it is over 600 meters longer making it nearly 1500 meters long. Furthermore the sensors are picking up more energy weapons and less drone launchers. The shields are modified and it has an intergalactic hyperdrive." The officer said.

Out of nowhere a holographic projection appeared. By what Grant had seen and heard it was Janus.

"Are you having fun scanning my ship?" Janus asked angry. It took some time for Grant and the other bridge personnel to recover from the shock. Before Grant could reply Janus started laughing. "Don't be afraid, I was just joking, Colonel Thrace told me you liked some humor."

"Yes we do, for a moment it thought I had just screwed up one of the most important meetings." Grant replied. "How can we help you Janus? Is it okay that I call you that?"

"Its fine, in ten minutes I'll be entering the ship into a stable orbit over the Cau planet, I suggest you prepare teams of technicians to start repairs on this ship and the other three. Also I've heard that your chef makes mean lasagna." Janus said and smiled.

"I'll tell the chef to get right on it, what do ya say, one hour from now, officers' mess?" Grant proposed.

"Very well, I'll get the other three ships in a stable orbit and then I'll ring down." Janus replied. The hologram disappeared.

"Lieutenant, tell the chef to make his best lasagna ever. Also tell the security personnel at the ring room to escort Janus to the officers' mess."

**Officers' mess**

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**1930 hours**

The senior officers of the Ticonderoga were assembled in the officers' mess. The group included Grant, Shaw, the Doctor, the chief engineer, two Asgard technicians, Rya'c as representative for the Free Jaffa Nation and Anise for the Tok'ra onboard. Colonel Thrace had agreed to escort Janus down from his ship. Everyone was wearing their best uniforms, well except for the Asgards, who as usually didn't wear anything. When Thrace escorted Janus to the mess, everyone was introduced and soon food was served.

"So Janus, could you tell us something about yourself? We know about the Attero device and your time travel jumpers." Grant said.

"I was born about 250 of your years before the fall of Atlantis, so about 50 years before the war. My father was a scientist on Atlantis and my mother was on the last Council before the war started. My first goal was to enter the council but when the war started the normal council was disbanded and a special war council was formed. The problem with that was that those councilors didn't know how to govern the Lantean domain; they didn't even know how to fight as we hadn't done that in millions of years. So after trying and failing to get a spot on the council I followed my father's footsteps and became a scientist. I was one of the few scientists that opposed the creation of the replicators and the Arcturus project. After both projects failed the council tried to hide its incompetence, I exposed them. Unfortunately it didn't help much; I was given stupid tasks like fixing Atlantis' plumbing systems something even a twelve year old can do. During my times fixing the plumbing I constructed several hidden labs, there I worked on my own projects, most notably the Aterro device and the time travel jumpers. I also programmed the city to rise and reconfigured the ZPM's to last longer so that the initial Atlantis expedition would survive. After the fall I worked on a new time machine and I used it to explore time, where I found out about the humans. After I was again stopped by the council I started working on this project, I used an old ship to travel back to the Pegasus Galaxy, where I found the ZPM station and four Aurora's, it took me twelve years to get them back to the Milky Way galaxy, there I installed the station in the sun and created a hyperspace barrier to keep it safe and activated a time dilation device. The rest you know."

"This certainly brings in a new point of view about the Lantean council. When we think about ancients we usually see them as near perfect beings." Grant said.

"Don't forget all the mistakes they made, Janus already named two but there were quite some more." Thrace said.

"I know that we seem to be the perfect beings, we have incredible powers and have an extensive knowledge. Unfortunately a lot of that knowledge was gained by learning from our mistakes, unfortunately sometimes it was already too late, as with the replicators. Since the Asuras project was 'terminated' I've refined the replicator base code, and although I wouldn't use them as soldiers, they could be used for construction, mining and making repairs." Janus said.

"Well, we've had some bad experience with replicators and other kind of AI's. It's been eight or nine years since we destroyed the Pegasus Replicators and we were hard pressed to install the AI we currently have on-board. It was only for the reassurances and promises of the Asgard that we allowed it and even now there are several Asgard constantly watching the program. I understand that an AI could be very useful on a ship, but it could also be very dangerous. The Colonials were nearly destroyed by the AI's they themselves created." Grant said.

"It'll take some time before the creators of the stargate program will accept anything in the form of AI's or replicators on a large scale, most of them have lost a lot to the replicators, some even more then to the Wraith or Goa'uld. And most of those involved from the start are either dead or in command of anything related to the stargate." Lieutenant Hailey said. She herself had spent quite some time working with General Carter.

"In that case I will try to persuade your leaders of the contrary that my programming is safe." Janus said.

"During my travels with the humans aboard the Deadelus I have learnt a lot of things about them; one of those things is that they can be extremely headstrong, I honestly doubt anyone would be able to persuade them to use replicators. It would be much easier to get them to approve AI's as we are currently running a trial aboard this ship." Hermiond said. Due to his previous work aboard the Deadelus and several other assignments in the Milky Way galaxy he was the first choice of Thor.

"I appreciate your honesty my dear friend." Janus said as he nodded his head towards Hermiond. "May I ask what has become of the Nox?"

"Until recently the Nox were isolationists, they rarely interacted with the peoples of the Milky Way galaxy and as far as we know they have also not traveled beyond this galaxy. Not so long ago it was decided that a new alliance was required, the races aboard this ship are several of the participating powers. The Nox have also joined this alliance." Hermiond explained. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering, they are a very advanced race, perhaps in some cases even more advanced then my own. The Nox have always been a nice race to work with, in peace and war."

"Janus, please forgive me for my bluntness, but what do you want from us?" Grant asked.

"I would like to help you, the Alliance, in combating current and future enemies. I'd also like to have access to the Atlantis and Asgard Database. Those two databases coupled together with the one I have on the station will result in the most knowledgeable database ever created."

"Do you have a way to get a clear signal through to Atlantis, or perhaps a ship?" Shaw asked.

"I am afraid not, the signal I used to alert Atlantis was a distress signal only frequency, the rest just won't penetrate the barriers I erected. Perhaps it is possible to get through the barriers by using the Colonial jump drives. Colonel Thrace told me the basics about the system, and it might just work."

"So we also can't use the com systems on the captured destroyer." Grant stated.

"I am afraid not."

The chef walked on with his lasagna and everybody dug in.

**Please R&R**

**On a sidenote, school is keeping me busy as always but I have some large deadlines coming up soon so I have no idea when the next chapter will be ready, might as well be next year although I will try to have it done before Christmas.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So the fourth chapter already! **

**Thanks to Rudy Pena for the beta.**

**Have fun and R&R!**

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**Pilot b****riefing room**

**0800 hours**

**February 8, 2016 **

The pilots briefing room was loaded with viper and raptor pilots. The room was even more crowded with some of the senior staff being present. The CAG, Captain Brendan 'HotDog' Costanza was currently briefing the pilots on the reason why the senior staff was also present, a recon mission of the Aschen territory. Among the senior staff present were Colonels Grant and Thrace as well as Lieutenant Hailey.

"The first raptor will be flown by me and Racetrack while the second raptor will be flown by Ruins and Skulls. This will be a simple recon mission, we will not engage the enemy and if we are detected we will jump the frak out. Our target is an Aschen colony on the outer reaches of the Aschen system. We will determine defenses and ship numbers as well as possible advantages we could take. We estimate that the enemy will need about thirty minutes to reach the colony with conventional engines. The recon will start at 1000 hours, the selected pilots will gather in the ready room 30 minutes prior to the start of the mission, take off will be at T minus five. Give your raptors an extensive check and I also want the viper pilots to give their birds a thorough check just in case. Dismissed."

Several hours later the two raptors were ready to depart from the still grounded Ticonderoga. Although a lot of systems were just beyond reparation a lot of the hull was already repaired. A small camp had formed around the Ticonderoga, with a lot of its engineers and scientists in space at the Aurora's several Cau personnel was permitted aboard to help with basic repairs to the ship. On occasion a news crew was allowed on the Ticonderoga for a tour of the ship and to interview some of the crew.

"Ticonderoga ATC, this is raptor four-one-niner, we are ready to depart." Hotdog said.

"Raptor four-one-niner, this is Ticonderoga ATC, you are cleared to depart, god speed Hotdog." The Air Traffic Controller said. The raptor took off while the second raptor performed the same drills as raptor four-one-niner before taking off as well and following the first raptor.

Within four minutes they reached the upper atmosphere and a small fleet was already coming in sight. The four gigantic Aurora's quickly filled the view screen of the raptors as they made a fly-by. On the other side of the aurora's, the captured Aschen destroyer floated in space, a lot of the weapons were still off-line but most other systems that weren't destroyed were already back on-line. After the raptors had left the aurora's and captured destroyer behind them they spooled up their FTL drive and jumped out.

**Orbit of Aschen Confederacy outpost**

Two flashes announced the arrival of the recon raptors. They jumped in orbit of the asteroid belt that circled the planet. The Aschen didn't detect them as they didn't even know about jump drives let alone were on the alert for a scouting mission.

Once both raptors had made sure that there was nothing in their way, they started their scans. For eight long hours the entire colony and its surrounding space was mapped and catalogued for later review. The small fleet in orbit was scanned and determined to be not much of a threat for the Ticonderoga or an Aurora at full strength. The problem was that half the Ticonderoga's systems were gone; among them the Asgard beam weapons and the Aurora's also weren't in pristine shape. The Aschen fleet was about as big as the one that attacked Cau, two cruisers, ten destroyers but also about a dozen ships that seemed to be some sort of frigate or corvette. There seemed to be a regular freight ship coming in every hour from the main planet although human traffic was relatively low. The planet itself counted about ninety million inhabitants which were mostly spread out for agricultural reason while some worked in mines mining rare materials which were soon indentified as naquadah.

When the time expired both raptors spooled up their jump drives and jumped out to the Cau system. Once they arrived in the Cau system they descended through the atmosphere and eventually landed in the Ticonderoga's hanger bay.

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**Pilot briefing room**

**1900 hours**

The crew of the two raptors had just finished their debriefings and now was the moment to start planning their first offensive action.

"Okay, so we know that reinforcements will be there in less than half an hour, which leaves us a very small window to strike that planet. I suggest we go in under active stealth systems and also leave that way. Because we still have no hyperdrive we'll need to get there at sub light speed. Because of this the trip will take two days to get there and two days to get back. This also means we can't take every ship we have. I suggest we'll take the Ticonderoga and one of the Aurora's. The stealth systems of the Aurora's are much more advanced than ours so they won't be spotted at all if we play it right." Grant said. "Comments?"

"I must remind you that the Ticonderoga's systems are still quite damaged and there is no hope to get our advanced weaponry working. You'll be stuck with your own primitive ballistic weaponry." Hermiond said.

"I know that your super duper energy weapons which didn't do squat against the super hives are off-line but as we've already found out these ships aren't exactly such a tough nut to crack." Thrace said.

"Your disappointment in our systems will be noted Colonel Thrace." Hermiond said as he nodded his head slightly and blinked his eyes.

"What about boarding actions? It's about time my marines get some action, it's been too long." Shaw asked.

"No, we don't have enough time to get you over there and get you back." Grant said.

"I assume the vipers will get some action, last time went well and we didn't suffer any losses." Hotdog said.

"You assume correctly. Vipers will have a defensive role so that we can re-task several railguns for offensive salvos. We've got to be careful with our missiles, especially the nuclear ones. We've activated the munitions factory but it is slow going." Grant said.

"You mentioned an Aurora, which one did you have in mind?" Janus asked.

"The Athos, it is best off and repairs are coming along nicely." Grant said.

"Alright, I'll transfer to that ship as soon as I can." Janus said.

"I kind a hoped you could stay behind. We need someone who can really operate the systems of more than one ship at a time in case someone attacks Cau. Cadet Frasier has already made herself familiar with the Athos and its capabilities." Grant said.

Janus thought about it for a moment before he agreed. "Very well Colonel, I have seen Cadet Frasier 'in action' as you're people like to call it and she's…well suited for the job. Good luck."

"How many people do you want aboard the Athos?" Shaw asked.

"The Cau have offered to provide several units of elite special forces, several of which you have already worked with. I'd like to fly them up to the Athos, say about fifty of them plus about ten to twenty of our own people." Grant said.

"We'll take two raptors, the other two stay here in addition to the jumpers." Grant said. "Is there anything else we need to discuss for this operation?"

"Who will be in command?" Shaw asked. "Most of the senior staff will be aboard the Ticonderoga."

"Almost forgot that didn't we? Although Janus does not have an official rank he will be in command as he has a lot of knowledge of the capabilities of the Aurora's. When it comes down to the official chain of command, Lieutenant Hailey will stay behind on the Sateda to supervise the reparations of the Aurora's and to liaise with the Cau." Grant said.

"We'll depart tomorrow morning at 0700 hours, crew transfers are to be completed by 2200 hours tonight." Grant concluded.

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**Bridge**

**1400 hours**

**February 10**

"Sir, I don't think we can get anything closer or we'll risk detection." Thrace said. It had been two long days and a boring journey. The Athos, one of the Aurora's was already in position, having used its out of phase technology to fly right past the enemy ships while getting some good readings.

"Alright, signal to the Athos, commence operation in one minute. Go weapons hot. And tell the vipers to prepare to launch." Grant ordered. Most of the crew was already at their positions but as per protocol the alarms blared three times signaling everyone combat was imminent. The AI also appeared and declared the ship combat ready.

"Ten seconds." Thrace said.

"Launch Vipers." Grant ordered. It would take a few second for the Vipers to get airborne and another few seconds to get noticed by the enemy, by that time missiles and railgun rounds would already be on their way.

"Five…Four…Three…Two…One." Thrace counted down.

"Open fire, all weapons. Tell the vipers they have weapons free and are to engage the enemy fighters." Grant ordered.

As the last viper exited the hanger bay -the pilots had practiced launching a lot of vipers in a few seconds- missiles and streams of railgun rounds were fired at the enemy fleet.

The enemy was totally unprepared for any kind of attack, they didn't even know about the fleet that was sent to Cau let alone its fate. Before any fighter could be launched the hanger bays on the two cruisers were hit by railgun rounds, a tactic the Tau'ri had developed during the early fights against the Wraith. Before the fighters even had a chance to make it out of the killing zone they were destroyed, inflicting damage on their own ships as well.

That the enemy fighters were disabled didn't mean the vipers had nothing to do. Within half a minute one hundred missiles were launched and although the Ticonderoga could take the hits or just let the railguns handle it, it was decided that if the vipers had nothing to do they would fly anti missile duty leaving more railguns for offensive tasks.

As more and more missiles struck home one destroyer exploded in a giant fireball. Two more destroyers tried to get away as their armor was being removed by railgun rounds.

One cruiser exploded under the artificial suns of two naquadah enhanced warheads which liquidated the hull and destroyed the ship. What remained of the fleet turned around to get away. The Athos phased in unleashing a small cloud of Drones and a mass of energy weaponry. Three destroyers were destroyed by the energy weapons while the only remaining cruiser was shredded by the drones before exploding in a billion pieces.

Just when it seemed the battle was over several squadrons of al'kesh like craft came up from the surface escorted by a dozen fighter squadrons. The single squadron of vipers engaged the al'kesh like bombers which tried to make attack runs on the two ships. Railguns and drones attacked the fighters.

The Aschen pilots were all conscripts, why the Aschen kept a large military as it were was a mystery on itself but needless to say they sucked. The Vipers were having a great time as targets were plentiful. Unfortunately several rooky pilots got lucky and managed to destroy several vipers. By the time the remaining ships and fighters were wiped out, four vipers had been lost, two by enemy fighters, one by a kamikaze fighter and another one by the destruction of one of the last destroyers.

After the military forces in orbit were destroyed the Ticonderoga turned its sensors towards the planet. They hadn't received any fire from ground weapons so they assumed there were none. After a few minutes scanning several priority targets were selected and railguns and energy weapons unleashed hell upon the military facilities on the planet wiping them out in a few minutes.

When the task was done and nearly no military forces were left a message was left behind telling the Aschen that they had declared war on the Tau'ri and the Alliance, surrender would be a wise decision. A list of violations, mostly what had occurred on Cau was left behind before the Athos phased out and the Ticonderoga left as well.

Half an hour later the reinforcements arrived, needless to say they were angry and the entire Aschen military was placed on full alert. Several old ships were pulled out of the mothballs and reserves were called upon.

**Cau Republic senate chambers**

**1400 hours**

**February 14**

Two days after the return of the Ticonderoga and Athos, the entire senate was assembled to receive a report on the battle of Colony four as the Aschen colony was called. A large white screen was erected in front of all the senators so that a sort of PowerPoint presentation could be made. General Meiron, although not personally involved introduced the subject before Grant took over for the actual report.

"The Operation was a success in every way imaginable; we've destroyed an outpost and a part of the Aschen military while losses were light. We've lost three viper pilots and we rescued one pilot, their vipers are gone. The Ticonderoga and Athos have only suffered light damage, mostly because of the surprise effect. The bombardment of military facilities on the planet itself ensured that the planet was neutralized as a threat. Civilian casualties are low, we estimate we killed about four hundred civilians but we've also killed over two hundred thousand soldiers. The Beacon we've left behind signaled up an hour later reporting it was being brought in so we can assume it was read. On our way back we've deployed several sensor drones, both normal space and hyperspace, we'll know when the enemy sends a fleet to Cau." Grant said.

A roar of questions started, only to be quickly quieted by General Meiron. When the senators were quiet he pointed to one of them that had raised his hand. "What have you learned about the enemy forces?" The senator asked.

"As we already suspected, the Aschen use conscription to maintain their military. This leaves them with several weaknesses, including badly trained soldiers and pilots as we've noticed. Their military is large, over 14 million soldiers, although those troops are mostly used for internal peace. The fact that their ships don't have any kind of shields leaves them vulnerable as we can just fire out railguns into their hanger bays, which when they are launching fighters are most vulnerable. Since their arrival in this system, the Aschen haven't fought a single war, therefore they have lost touch for military tactics, strategy and logistics. Earth has fought numerous wars since we started recording history, this has taught us a lot of things about war and weapons." Grant explained.

Another Senator raised his hand and was allowed to speak by General Meiron. "How is it that the Aschen haven't attacked us much earlier?"

"That was something we were wondering ourselves. If the same thing would have happened to us we'd have explored the local space. After we did some digging in our database we discovered that the Aschen aren't the adventurer type, they stay close to home. We also discovered that there was a reflection by your sun that prevented the discovery of the Cau system from the Aschen system."

"What are your further plans?"

"Tomorrow Janus will take a look at a Colonial Jump Drive to determine if it could be safely used to jump beyond the barriers. If the Jump can be made a raptor will be sent with an advanced communications package and it will send out a distress call to the Twelve Colonies. The reason why we've chosen the Twelve Colonies over Earth is because it's closer. The chance of detection by a potential enemy isn't as big as when we'd send it to earth. Because of the distance we need to send it in clear language so anyone can read into it. Between here and Earth lie some less then friendly space faring civilizations and we don't want to risk tipping them off."

"What will you do if the Aschen attack us again?"

"We will defend Cau to the best of our abilities, failure is not an option. After that we'll see if we can execute a counter attack, perhaps against their home world."

The senate had loads more questions and most of them were answered during the rest of the hearing.

**Hanger bay**

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**0900 hours**

**February**** 15**

The Activities in the hanger bay had returned to its usual busyness. Vipers were being maintained and equipment was being cleaned. Repair operations were still ongoing and would take quite some time to repair every bit of damage. With four vipers less, some more room was available and several tables were positioned around one secluded raptor. The paneling around the engines was gone and several Colonial engineers had taken the jump drive out of the ship and placed the various components on the tables. Several cables provided an interface with the core of the ship while several tablets were lying near the parts. Janus was inspecting the designs of the jump drive.

"Very ingenious, I'm surprised we never thought of it, it would be a great addition to our hyper drives and possibly a good addition to our puddle jumpers." Janus complemented one of the engineers.

"Do you think it would be possible to rig the jump drive of a raptor into the Ticonderoga's systems and jump the entire ship sir?" one of the engineers asked.

"For so far as I understand it, this drive was built for a ship the size of a raptor. To make the Ticonderoga jump capable we'd need to construct a new drive built for the Ticonderoga." Janus said. "I do think that it'll be possible to jump with one of these drives although you've got to be careful from where you jump and to where you jump, it still requires a large amount of power and will definitely be a target for the ion strikes."

"So can I tell the commander the good news?" Thrace asked. She had silently sneaked up to him and stood right behind him.

"Colonel Thrace, Do you always approach people while making so much noise?" Janus asked. Thrace looked at him in unbelief. "We Lanteans have better hearing then normal humans. And yes, you can tell him the good news. I would recommend using a certain piece of space, it has a sort of entrance, and the ion storms do not reach it for some reason although the hyperspace barrier does cover it."

"You know, you could have told us about that opening earlier." Thrace said.

"You never asked."

"True, I think the commander will want to have a report on both that entrance and your conclusion of the jump drives capability in regards to your hyperspace barrier."

"In that case, I hope you don't mind if I come along, I never felt much for paperwork." Janus said.

"You and me both." Thrace chuckled as she walked away. Janus quickly followed her.

**Bridge**

**1234 hours**

"_Ticonderoga, this is Hotdog, we're ready for the jump, just say the word."_ The voice of Lieutenant Constanza came in over the loudspeakers.

"Hotdog, Racetrack, good luck and let them know we're still here. See you in a few hours." Grant replied.

"_Copy that Ticonderoga, see you in a few. Out."_

A flash announced the departure of the raptor. The sensor officer confirmed it.

**Picon fleet Headquarters**

**Picon orbit**

**1455 hours**

The heavily fortified and heavily armored Picon Fleet HQ was home to the commanders of the colonial fleet. Since the second Cylon war it had been upgraded with shields, energy weapons and several other features for communications, as well as several military attaché offices. About a dozen battlestars were being built at the shipyards. All over the Colonies ships were being built, the Colonial fleet was still recovering from the exhausting fights, first against the Cylons and later against the Wraith. On one of the piers was the gate room, one of three gates in the Colonial system was located there and used only for the military and government. The communications array held many transmitters and receivers, most of them were flashing white from all the activity. The array wasn't a purely military one, but also routed civilian contact. Only a few transmitters and receivers were inactive, those were the special ones, only to be used in the direst of situations. One of them started receiving.

The communications room was as busy as ever, lines of monitors were all manned by soldiers. Only a few monitors were left unoccupied, a Colonel stood close but none was logged in. one of the screens suddenly showed a incoming signal. The signal was weak and if it wasn't for the advanced Tau'ri/Asgard equipment it wouldn't have been picked up at all.

The nearby Colonel quickly noticed the signal and alerted someone with phone. He then proceeded to the terminal and entered his personal code. The computer went to work on decoding the message while an Admiral walked in and stopped behind the Colonel.

"What've we got?" the Admiral asked.

"Admiral Nagala, we just received a message from deep space, according to our navigational charts there is nothing in that direction."

The computer finished decoding the message and the first page showed a warning that only personnel with the rank of rear admiral or higher were allowed to see it. The Colonel stood up and walked away while Nagala got seated. He typed in his personal code and the message was shown to him. The message disturbed him. He quickly called someone and ordered the Colonial Joint Chiefs of staff to be assembled as well as the President. He then relayed the message to Atlantis as per request.

**Unknown Location**

**2253 hours**

One man stood before a window overlooking an ugly landscape, this planet was in constant turmoil as it was experiencing heavy tectonic activities. In the distance one volcano was spewing up ash which blocked the sun out. Someone wearing military fatigues walked in and stopped behind the man.

"Sir, we've decoded the message. It's about a group of Tau'ri that got stranded; we've got their location, status and other details. It also appears that they have encountered a sub group of Aschen, the lost transport." The new arrival said.

The man turns around and it is Mollem, of the Aschen negotiation back in 2001. "Finally, after the loss of that agricultural planet they sent me here as punishment. It is all due to those Tau'ri, they gave me false coordinates. Now it is time to get back at them and reclaim my position. After I've brought these lost Aschen back into the fold they won't be able to ignore me. Ready a battle fleet. We leave in two hours."

**So let me know what you think.**

**On a side note, I've started another project, it's a BSG story, for now it's called: Rescue Over New Caprica, I haven't uploaded anything but it might be up soon. I don't know if it'll be a real series or if it will be one chapter long, all depends on the reception.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 Enjoy!**

**Commanders Quarters**

**TFS Ticonderoga**

**Cau orbit**

**0109 hours**

**February 24**

The Ticonderoga was in space still undergoing repairs. Small men and women were dotted around the ship in EVA suits welding new plating to the hull. Overall the ship was on the fast track to being repaired again. The only thing missing were the advanced power hungry systems like the Asgard plasma beam weapons. Colonel Grant was asleep in his quarters when his intercom went off.

"_Colonel? Colonel are you awake?" _the officer of the watch asked over the intercom.

Grant pulled himself up and put the earpiece in his ear. "I am now. What is it?"

"_The buoy near Outpost four has detected massive hyperspace disturbances and so has the first one in our direction." _ The officer reported.

"ETA?"

"_Guessing by their current speed and direction they will arrive in about two hours."_ The officer replied.

"Wake up the crew, prepare all ships for combat and inform the Cau government they'll have a nice lightshow this morning." Grant ordered.

"_Yes sir." _The officer replied. The signal was cut and an alarm started blaring waking up the crew the officer of the watch reported the situation.

Ten minutes later Grant entered the bridge. "What's our status?"

"The Cau have been apprised of the situation, everyone is awake and preparing for combat. The captured destroyer Cau might not be so ready for combat; I suggest we stash it somewhere safe." Thrace said.

"Sir, Janus reports he is ready to take three Aurora's, Frasier can take the Athos." The Comm. officer reported.

"Can you give me a more accurate ETA?" Grant asked.

"Eh, One hour and twenty eight minutes as of… now." Thrace said after she checked some of her readings.

"Okay, can you detect the makeup of the fleet?" Grant asked.

"According to the sensors and the Destroyer's database we have one battleship, one carrier, six cruisers and twenty four destroyers incoming, a large part of their fleet sir. We have also picked up a secondary fleet of twelve destroyers escorting civilian vessels, cargo ships and passenger ships, a possible invasion force." Thrace summoned.

"How many fighters aboard that carrier?"

"Standard nearly six hundred not counting the transports and bombers." Thrace said.

A signal came in that Janus, Frasier and General Meiron were on the line so Grant went ahead to give the orders. "Alright, we'll use the jumpers to make a first strike against that carrier; they will have to target the hanger bays or anything else that will prevent those fighters from launching. The jumpers will have to go in cloaked and also get out that way. The Vipers will be dedicated to planetary combat, they'll attack anything that gets through the fleet and will support Cau ground forces. The drones will have the most work, they have to destroy fighters and missiles and also target the capital ships. Energy weapons aboard the Aurora's will take the heavier ships and the Ticonderoga will take the destroyers and targets of opportunity. Questions? Suggestions?"

"One suggestion." Frasier said. "How about space mines, we might be able to harm the enemy ships when they come right out of hyperspace." Frasier said.

"Good Idea. Thrace get on it, use four nukes, make sure they cannot be detected and can be remote detonated, use a jumper." Grant said.

"On it." Thrace immediately walked away.

**0325 hours**

"Enemy fleet emerging from hyperspace in thirty seconds." Thrace said.

"About time. Arm all weapons, set the nukes to auto. Relay the final coordinates to the jumpers. Load launch tubes twelve through twenty-four with standard nuclear weapons, the rest with conventional missiles." Grant ordered. It had already been done but as per protocol he called out the entire list. The Aschen group had slowed its speed, the reason was unknown.

Thrace started a countdown. "Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One." Nothing happened.

"Thrace? What's going on?"

"No Idea sir." Thrace tapped at her console making the computer do a lot of scans. "Shit. They have found and hacked into our sensor buoys and have sent us false data."

"Have Frasier activate her sensor grid and make an active search." Grant ordered. Ticonderoga's own sensors were still damaged and could not be relied upon. Now that Frasier had to use her sensors she had to phase the Athos making it detectable for enemy sensors, if they were nearby.

A loud beeping sounded from a console near the side. "We are receiving telemetry from the Athos." The crewmember manning the station reported.

"Found them! They will bypass our nukes and appear right behind us." Thrace said.

"When?" Grant asked.

"RIGHT FRACKING NOW!" Thrace yelled as the ship rocked by the impacts of Aschen weapons fire.

The enemy fleet had emerged behind them. Most ships immediately opened fire on the Ticonderoga and the Athos. Unknown to the defenders, the enemy was performing an amphibious assault on the other side of the planet. Both viper and jumper units were completely out of place. The jumpers had to turn around while the vipers were forced to stay in low orbit and dodge large amounts of weapons fire. Hostile fighters were already leaving the hanger bays and lining up for attacks on the Ticonderoga and Athos.

"Have the Aurora's take out those fighters with drones. Fire all loaded missiles." Grant ordered.

All twenty four missile tubes released one missile. The Aurora's unleashed a storm of drones. Most of the missiles were destroyed in a flak barrier not unlike what a Colonial battlestar would create. The drones however did their work excellent. Fighters exploded everywhere and one or two missiles made it through to detonate on the hull of an Aschen ship.

"Missiles are of no effect, drones are destroying fighters, but not enough." Thrace reported.

"Get us in closer to that carrier; tell the Aurora's to concentrate on that battleship and those cruisers." Grant ordered.

The Ticonderoga sped forward towards the Carrier. Even now after several minutes the carrier was still expelling fighters. Several destroyers tried to block the Ticonderoga's path by throwing up a flak screen. The Ticonderoga flew right through the screen as it were never there. The shields flared brightly blue as it deflected huge amounts of weapons fire. In the distance the Carrier came in sight. Two cruisers were in the Ticonderoga's path while creating an enormous flak screen. The Ticonderoga quickly ducked underneath it, complements to Colonel Thrace. Eventually the bare hull of the carrier was visible. Several short range weapons started firing. The Ticonderoga responded by firing all its forward rail guns and launching several missiles.

"Target those hanger bays, they are the easiest targets." Grant ordered.

"No joy, they've closed them off." Thrace responded.

"Load two Mark nine's, fire when ready and get us out of here as soon as they are away." Grant ordered referring to the Mark Nine Naquadah enhanced nuclear warhead nicknamed 'Gatebuster' as they were able to destroy a stargate.

"Fired." Thrace confirmed.

The two missiles sped out of their launch tubes and away from their mother ship which was now quickly turning around. They went in the general direction of the targeted ship. Because of some new software the missiles were now able to fly erratic paths avoiding being destroyed by CIWS. This feature was only installed on the Mark Nines. The two warheads continued on their route to the Aschen Carrier. Both were flying different paths. One of the missiles was destroyed by a lucky flak round that knocked the navigational computer offline after which it was easy to destroy the missile. The other missile however struck home. A bright sun came to life above the dark side of the planet Cau, the sun lasted for several seconds after which it subsided. The Carrier was destroyed. Its hull was unable to withstand the extreme power of the Mark Nine. The ship was shattered to pieces. The two defending cruisers were destroyed as well. The Ticonderoga was nearly out of range of the blast wave but caught the last of it. The ship shook lightly and the shields dropped a few percent.

"Shields?" Grant asked.

"42 percent." Thrace answered. "General Meiron confirms an invasion about 200 clicks away from the capital city. Estimates are that nearly two hundred thousand troops have already landed. The Cau army won't be able to hold them off for long. The Cau government is evacuating, I have no idea where to."

"Status of the battlefield." Grant ordered.

The AI flickered to life and reports buzzed around it. "Nearly fifty percent of the hostile fighter and bomber force has been destroyed. The Aschen battleship is near destruction. There are four cruisers and nine destroyers remaining. The destroyers from the invasion force are on their way to join the fight here. If I may make a suggestion sir, the captured destroyer Cau is not too far away from the invasion force. It might be used to attack the unguarded transports." After a quick note from Grant the AI continued. "Our shields are down to 39 percent. The shields of the Athos are at 49 percent, all weapons functional. The Sateda has 53 percent shields and all weapons functional. The Hoff and Lantea are both out of drones and shields are at 29 and 24 percent respectively."

"Weapons?"

"Twelve standard nukes, four gatebusters, sixty four regular capital ship missiles, eighty two anti-fighter missiles. Railguns are at 22 percent capacity and energy weapons are not working." The AI summoned.

"Running low." Thrace commented.

"When you see a sign saying refills please let me know, otherwise keep your funny comments to yourself." Grant said.

A large flash enlightened the bridge as one cruiser was destroyed.

"How strong is their fighter screen?" Grant asked.

"Pretty strong, but they keep away from the drones though." Thrace responded.

"Okay, this is what I want. I want you to launch a mark nine at that concentration of two cruisers and three destroyers and make sure either Frasier or Janus is protecting it with drones, to make sure it arrives." Grant said.

"Got it." Thrace said. She sent a quick message to Frasier and moments later eight drones sped out of the Athos' drone launcher and formed up around the Ticonderoga. When the mark nine gate buster was launched the drones formed up around it. Despite the protection, Thrace was guiding it manually to its target. One drone broke of as it charged an incoming fighter and subsequently destroyed it. Fortunately the enemy was too focused on the Aurora's to notice the nuke going their way. When the alerts aboard the Aschen ships went off it was already too late. The nuke wasn't set for detonation on impact but rather in the middle of space to cause as much as possible damage to as much ships possible.

For the second time that night an artificial sun appeared over the planet Cau. The blast destroyed all targets. The two cruisers, three destroyers along with a sizable part of the enemy's remaining fighter force were all destroyed. Unfortunately the mark nine is so powerful that it is nearly impossible to stay out of its range if you are engaged to its target. The shields of the Ticonderoga dropped nearly eight percent while the Aurora's lost between five and fifteen percent. The Hoff was worst off. Its shields had already been brought down to twenty three percent and now they bordered on the brink of failure. As a precaution the ship was withdrawn.

From there it quickly went downwards for the Aschen forces. A large salvo of drones ripped through the armor of one of the two remaining cruisers. The ship's reactors overloaded taking the ship and three destroyers down with it. The remaining three destroyers attempted to get out of the system by hyperdrive but were all targeted by energy weapons from the aurora's. Within minutes the destroyers were mice meat.

The invasion force was suddenly attacked by the captured destroyer. Although a lot of its weapons were destroyed it was still capable of inflicting severe harm on the nearly defenseless ships. The escorts for the invasion force were between the invasion force and the Ticonderoga and its friends. They just remained there waiting for something to happen. Something did happen. The four jumpers had bypassed the battlefield and unleashed all their drones on the twelve destroyers. It didn't do much but it was better than nothing. Besides it acted as a distraction. The four nukes that Thrace intended to use as mines were never deployed; there was simply no time for it. So while the destroyers were busy figuring out what just hit them the four nukes detonated. Five were destroyed immediately; their hulls incapable of deflecting the power from the nukes were destroyed along with the rest of the ship. The other ships were all damaged to some degree. Within minutes the Ticonderoga, Athos and Sateda had closed in on them and destroyed the remaining ships.

"Colonel, all Aschen ships have been destroyed, only a small concentration of fighters is remaining attempting to destroy the Cau." Thrace said. The Cau was the captured Aschen destroyer.

"Then get us over there. What's the number on our vipers?" Grant said.

"We only have eleven remaining. The Cau fighters have suffered extensive losses, again. All forces between the Cau capital and the invaders have either been destroyed or have retreated to a new defense line but they are still seriously outnumbered. General Meiron requests railgun support on advancing forces." Thrace said.

"Damn, can we give that support without depleting our supplies?"

"We have fifteen percent remaining supplies. I recommend keeping a minimum of five percent." Thrace said.

"Okay, as soon as we're in orbit get us some fixes on hostile formations which would yield the most reward per shot. Tell the Sateda to mop up the fighters and if they are still around the transports." Grant said.

Most of the transports were either destroyed or in the process of getting into hyperspace. In total nearly three hundred fifty thousand Aschen soldiers had made it down. Most of the units were at least motorized so they would be able to spread out quickly. On the contrary to the last time Aschen soldiers marched through Cau streets they didn't kill anyone, only those who stood in their way.

**CIC**

**Battlestar Galactica, BSG 75**

**Somewhere between the colonies and Cau**

**1450 hours Caprica city time**

"Admiral, we have an incoming message from Picon Fleet HQ, top priority. It's Admiral Nagala." Lieutenant Hoshi reported.

"I'll take it here." Adama said. He picked up the phone closest to his position. "Adama here."

"_Admiral Adama, momentarily you will receive a package with your new mission."_ Admiral Nagala said.

"May I ask what kind of mission sir?"

"_As you might know the Tau'ri has sent one of its ships to investigate an emergency beacon, the Ticonderoga. Until recently they were out of contact. Not long ago we received a message detailing their situation; it will be included in the package. Your orders are to take Group 75 and secure the area until more reinforcements can arrive. The Tau'ri have promised to send two of their battle cruisers, which is much considering the war they're fighting in Pegasus. Anyways, we will send one additional battle group and possibly another Group as well. A part of the crew is from the Colonies and I believe quite some from your battle group." _Nagala said.

"I know they are from my group, they asked for the best so I gave them the best. I have received the package and we'll set course for them as soon as possible." Adama answered.

"_Good luck admiral and gods speed."_

"Yes sir" Adama replied before he put the phone down. "Hoshi, get Commanders Ketz and Adama on the line." Commander Ketz was the commander of the Battlestar Atlantia while Commander Adama was Admiral Adama's son who commanded the Pegasus.

Two hours later Battle group 75 changed course for the Cau System and initiated its first of many FTL jumps.

**Cau temporary military command post**

**0102 hours**

**February 25**

Major Kendra Shaw had just arrived from the Ticonderoga to coordinate fire support maps and other stuff and was once again finding herself on the front lines. "General Vorlog, We've got to stop meeting this way."

"Major Shaw, I wholeheartedly agree with you, but unfortunately the Aschen have decided to send some more troops this time."

"And that's what I and my friends are here for. With me I've got ways to communicate to the ships in orbit, they will then be able to attack Aschen ground forces making it easier for you to destroy them."

"Great, when can we start?" Vorlog asked.

"As soon as you want. Do you have any units ready for a counter attack?" Shaw asked.

"My own Sixth Mechanized is ready as are several other divisions. Do you have some advice for us?"

"I'm not really someone for large scale ground combat, I don't think we have some army guys around but I'd say you take out their command structure first." Shaw suggested.

"Very well. I suggest you bring your people to the artillery tent; they will coordinate nearly every round that gets above 200 feet not including mortars." General Vorlog said as he walked out of his own tent.

**CIC**

**Battlestar Galactica, BSG 75**

**Entrance tunnel to Cau system**

**0900 hours**

**February 28**

The three battlestars of Battlestar group 75 were holding position in front of the entrance to the Cau system. En route to the system a message was received from Earth's Tau'ri fleet command. Currently they were waiting for reinforcements from Earth.

"Sir, we have a hyperspace window forming." A lieutenant reported. "Two ships just appeared.

"It's the Hammond and Phoenix, the Earth ships." another Lieutenant said.

"Right on time." Adama said. "Hail them."

The line was established and the commander of the Phoenix came loudly over the intercom._ "Admiral Adama, it's a pleasure to see you again." _Colonel Mitchell said.

"Likewise Colonel. Do you have the spare hyperdrive for the Ticonderoga?" Adama asked.

"_Yep, we tore it out of a derelict Ha'tak, it won't be as efficient as the normal one but it'll do the job."_ Mitchell replied.

"That's great. Colonels, Are your ships ready, I'd rather not delay this trip for much longer, the Ticonderoga might need us." Adama said.

"_The General Hammond is ready sir."_ Colonel Levy replied. While the ship carried the ZPM during the battle for Earth it had to hand it over to the Odyssey afterwards.

"_The Phoenix is ready as well Admiral, just say the word."_ Mitchell said.

"Okay, the Galactica goes in first, followed by the rest just in case something goes wrong." Adama said.

After the two 304's voiced their confirmations the Galactica moved into what the sensors determined to be the tunnel into the Cau system. Because the tunnel was narrow and the commanders didn't want to risk their ships it was silently determined to send in the Galactica first, Atlantia second, followed by the General Hammond and Phoenix, which combined weren't even as wide as one battlestar. The Pegasus closed the line.

**Galactica CIC**

**12 minutes later**

"Sir, we're approaching the exit, telemetry is good, Dradis is still a little bit static but should clear up momentarily." Colonel Tigh, the XO said.

"The Dradis better be very static." Adama replied.

"Sir?"

"Look at that formation, right above the exit; it seems a little bit too solid for some ion storms. Get an accurate fix on it."

More sensors were directed at the anomaly and a cleared image showed up.

"Sir, we've got contacts, a lot and they don't look happy to see us." Tigh said.

"Battle stations, set condition one." Adama ordered. Alarms started blaring and condition one was announced. "Can we launch Vipers?"

"Not yet, we're not far away from the storms. Remember we had to reduce the power to the shields, they are now at about 60 percent."

"Signal the rest the following. Got contact, assume hostile. Prepare for confrontation." Adama ordered. "Do we have identification? Send out a standard greeting."

While crewmembers were still arriving in the CIC the ship suddenly shook violently.

"No identification seems they don't want to talk."

"Return fire, all weapons. Make sure the other ships have a way out of the tunnel, draw their fire away from it." Adama said.

The Galactica's bow weapons started firing, shooting orange bolts of plasma towards the enemy ships. In return the enemy fired green bolts of plasma in the direction of the Galactica. As further as the Galactica got out of the tunnel the more weapons could be brought to bear on the attackers. Missiles and projectiles sped across the distance and impacted on the enemy shields.

"Admiral, the sensors are detecting a viral agent in those plasma bolts." A lieutenant said.

"A Virus?" Tigh asked shocked.

"You mean a biological Virus?" Adama asked.

"Yes sir." The lieutenant replied.

"Check it against the records of Aschen biological weapons, there should be a file about it in the data the Tau'ri gave us." Adama said.

The lieutenant quickly compared the samples. "It's a match sir."

"That clears this up a bit; they were looking for their lost cousins." Adama said.

"The Atlantia is coming through sir, what are your orders?"

"Tell them to take the right side, we've taken the left. The Hammond and Phoenix will take the middle and Pegasus wherever she's needed." Adama ordered.

Plasma bolts, missiles and slugs fired by the heavy cannons of the Atlantia now joined in the battle. The enemy possessed a dozen ships. One was clearly the flagship; it was nearly nine hundred meters long. Three ships that were probably cruisers were closely located near the flagship. The other eight seemed to be destroyers. They were divided into two groups and were trying to protect the flanks. All ships had shields which made the task of destroying them a lot harder. The Aschen ships primarily used energy weapons. But for close in weapons systems against the missiles they still used kinetic weapons.

"Vipers ready for launch sir." Tigh reported.

"Launch them all." Adama ordered.

Within seconds the first of nearly two hundred vipers Mark 8 sped out of the launch tubes of the Galactica. They were quickly joined by the Raptors which did a conventional launch from the landing deck.

The enemy, not prepared to face such high numbers of Vipers tried to get away. Their first move was to make a dash for the tunnel. Unfortunately for them, it resulted in the destruction of one cruiser and two destroyers as the General Hammond and Phoenix just exited the tunnel. The two 304's fired several plasma beams at danger to their own ship due to the presence of the ion storms. The enemy quickly turned around now only to find that the Galactica and Atlantia had moved towards each other with a large formation of nearly 400 vipers in front of them. In order to deny them an escape to the side the General Hammond and Phoenix cut them off. Now the Pegasus moved through the tunnel and stayed there to block it.

The Galactica, Atlantia, Phoenix and General Hammond now adopted a much used Colonial strategy. They started circling the enemy forces allowing the battlestars to make broadsides all the time as one side was continuously to the enemy. The enemy tried to return fire and damage a ship but it was near useless. The 304's were too fast and their shields to strong while the battlestars had a complete armor belt made out of an alloy of Trinium and Naquadah that was an addition to the shields. One by one the Aschen ships started to drift away from their formation before exploding. By now the vipers kept away from the ships are there was nothing they could do. The Raptors however carried heavy ordnance packages and fired load after load towards the enemy ships.

In a last ditch effort to get away the remaining ships charged the Pegasus. The flagship, two destroyers and one heavily damaged cruiser charged forward. The cruiser took lead intending to ram the Pegasus. Just seconds before the cruiser hit the battlestar, it made a small jump reappearing not far from the Galactica. The cruiser which had already taken heavy damage now exploded from the combined fire of the Colonial and Tau'ri forces. Its debris scattered in the tunnel provided a nice blockade for the other Aschen ships. Unwilling neither to stay and be destroyed nor to surrender the two destroyers charged forwards, firing all weapons at the largest chunks of debris. The flagship followed soon. Both destroyers had already weakened shields and some debris got through and did massive damage to the ships. One destroyer lost its port propulsion and unable to compensate the other engines pushed it sideways into the ion storms where it was quickly destroyed. The other having already lost its bridge and steering blindly hit a large piece of debris and suffered a reactor breach just moments before it exited the tunnel. The flagship was luckier, its shields were more powerful and were able to withstand the debris of previously destroyed ships and quickly jumped to hyperspace as it cleared the tunnel.

"The last ship has jumped to hyperspace. I guess we haven't seen the last of those." Tigh said.

"I agree. Get damage reports from the ship and fleet. Tell Pegasus to deploy mines in and near the Tunnel and have the controls switched to a Raptor in case someone else tries to get through." Adama ordered.

"Yes sir." One officer relayed the message to the Pegasus while another requested damage reports from the other ships. Tigh ordered all department heads to submit damage reports to the CIC ASAP.

**30 minutes later**

"Admiral, the last of our vipers are on board and the Pegasus has successfully deployed several cloaked mines and has launched a raptor to arm them if necessary." Tigh reported.

"Then tell the 304's to engage their hyperdrive for the Cau home planet and prepare to initiate a FTL jump as per plan." Adama ordered.

The plan was that the 304's would first travel through hyperspace to the intended destination while the battlestars waited until the 304's were nearly at their destination before jumping. Because of the small distance between their current position and their targeted destination it would only take a few minutes for the 304's in hyperspace.

"Yes sir." Tigh said. Above the DRADIS console a timer started counting down.

A few minutes later the timer came close to zero.

"Jumping in 5…4...3…2…1 Jumping." Tigh announced. The ship flashed away as did the other two battlestars.

**Orbit of Planet Cau **

A hyperspace window opened and two 304's sped out while not far from them three battlestars blinked into existence. The defending ships which had already raised shields and powered weapons in fear of an Aschen attack sent hostile ID challenges and stood down as the proper codes were received.

**Bridge, TFS Ticonderoga**

"_Tau'ri Federation Ship Ticonderoga this is Admiral Adama aboard the flagship of Battlestar Group 75 the Galactica. I request permission to beam aboard by use of TFS Hammond's Asgard transportation system."_

"Admiral, thanks for finding us, you gave us quite the scares when you arrived, we hadn't expected anyone for weeks. We will lower our jamming field so you can beam aboard." Grant replied. He gave a nod to Thrace who lowered the jamming field.

Within seconds the familiar sounds of an Asgard transportation system was heard. When the accompanying white light faded it revealed Admiral Adama, Commander's Adama and Kretz and Colonel's Mitchell and Levy. Grant stood up from his chair and brought a salute to Admiral Adama who quickly returned it before shaking Grant's hand.

"Colonel Grant, How are you doing?" Adama asked.

"I'm fine. The ship however could use a patch here and there. Plus a hyperdrive engine if possible, otherwise she's going to be stuck here."

"One of the 304's has a spare Ha'tak hyperdrive for you. Is there anything else you need?"

"Eh, we've still got some wounded and our sickbay is not fully operational, perhaps we can transport the wounded to either the 304's or the battlestars. Furthermore a new enemy we've encountered here, the Aschen Confederacy has invaded the planet. They are an offspring of the Aschen. Their ships are not that powerful, no shields, they remind me a bit of your old battlestars, just smaller. What we, or better the Cau military need is air support and perhaps ground forces with heavy equipment. The Aschen have about 300.000 soldiers down there. We've already managed to take down about fifty thousand, part by detonating a nuke in a remote area. The Cau military is spread thin and not really equipped to fight such a large army. The support we've been able to offer wasn't much. We're nearly out of railgun ammo and most of the energy weapons on the Aurora's are incapable of effectively penetrating the atmosphere." Grant said.

"Okay, you'll have it. The Atlantia has an expanded sick bay; your wounded can be transferred there. We've also got over six hundred vipers Mark 8's and a load of raptors. I'm sure the other 304's are willing to share a part of their supplies. I'd like to meet this man called Janus; your reports said he is an Ancient?" Adama said.

"Yes sir, thank you sir. Janus is an Ancient we met when we were looking for some lost treasure." Grant said. When Adama looked surprised at the treasure Grant explained. "I have deliberately not mentioned the treasure but it is huge. It is a ZPM factory, hidden in the sun and also four Aurora's."

"You found a ZPM factory?! Is it working? Are there any ZPM's left?" Mitchell pitched in.

"Yeah, it's fully operational, at least I assume it is, Janus didn't say it was broken or anything. Janus also said that he had two spare ZPM's but he wanted to keep one at the station. We haven't used the other one since it wouldn't have helped much anyways. Most of our systems that require a lot of power are either dead or unable to operate at full power." Grant explained.

"Alright. Colonel Grant, I have your new orders for you. You are to install the new hyperdrive we have for you. After that you will be escorted by one of the 304's back to Earth where you will be debriefed. If possible Janus should accompany you as well. You can leave a part of the crew here to help us understand the technology and relations. Colonel Levy will escort you back to Earth."

"Sir, if I may be so free, if we tie in the spare ZPM Janus has into the General Hammond, we can tow the Ticonderoga through hyperspace, just like we did when the Wraith attacked Earth." Colonel Levy suggested.

"That's a good idea, get it done Colonel Levy." Adama said. "Colonel Grant, How quick do you think you can install the hyperdrive?"

"With Asgard beaming technology it can be done within a day."

"Then get on it." Adama said.

**2209 hours**

"Admiral Adama, the hyperdrive is installed and ready to go. With your permission I'd like to get underway." Grant said.

"_Copy that Ticonderoga, you and the Hammond have permission to head for Earth as per plan."_ Adama replied.

"Cadet Frasier, get us underway please." Grant said to Frasier who sat beside him at the XO position. Colonel Thrace as for half the ship's crewmembers had opted to stay behind. Frasier and Janus were a few that would travel back to Earth for the debriefing. Several diplomats from the Cau republic were also on board but did not feel the need to be on the bridge.

The Ticonderoga and General Hammond both moved away from the now small fleet orbiting the Cau planet. When they were away from the other ships and any debris left behind by the recent battles they entered hyperspace. First for the tunnel in and out of the system and later in a combined hyperspace window for Earth.

**I hope you R&R, **


	6. Chapter 6

**New chapter! Enjoy!**

**Bridge, TFS Ticonderoga**

**Hyperspace near Earth**

**0725 hours **

**March 1, 2016**

"Colonel Grant, the General Hammond is preparing to disengage hyperdrive engines." Cadet Frasier said.

"Prepare to do the same." Grant said.

"Exiting hyperspace in five…four…three…two…one, exiting hyperspace." Frasier said.

Both battle cruisers simultaneously exited hyperspace. One battle cruiser was completely intact, while the other had scorch marks all over its hull and signs of extreme damage. They had exited hyperspace between Earth and the moon with its shipyard and Atlantis. Since the last time the Ticonderoga was at Earth several things had changed. Last time there was a gigantic fleet present to ensure the safety of the planet, there was debris left behind by the vessels destroyed over the planet. Now most of the debris had either been removed or had fallen towards the planet. The large war fleet had made way for dozens of cargo ships supplying the planet with the most vital things. Several Asgard Daniel Jackson class science vessels were using their transporter systems to repair the damage to the planet, which was extensive. From orbit massive craters could be seen with the naked eye. A giant ash plume rose up from northwestern America, probably Yellowstone national Park.

"_Colonel Grant, Colonel Levy, welcome back, we hadn't expected you for a while."_ General Sheppard said.

"Yes sir, I understand, however the Ticonderoga is in a desperate need for a repair, and most of our Asgard systems are gone. We also have a quite large present. You might want to get Doctor McKay and General Carter." Colonel Grant said.

"_I'll have to take your word for it. I'll get Carter and McKay to the conference room. You get your ship down to the shipyard and join us in the conference room, take the present if you can."_

"Yes sir." Grant replied.

The com line was severed and the Ticonderoga slowly started making its way down to the shipyards that were dotted around Atlantis. Because of the low gravity nolong approach was necessary. The ship received its landing instructions from the control tower and slowly landed. When the ship settled down several walkways extended from a central structure, not unlike what you'd see on an airport. These walkways however were not covered but open, they were emitting artificial gravity to allow for easier walking. Inside the shields of Atlantis there was no gravity but there was air, which made it a perfect place to construct the new ships. The low gravity allowed for heavy components to be moved without much trouble and the oxygen allowed the workers to not use the normal suits that would be required to work on the moon.

After a few minutes the ship's engines stopped and from one of the hatches several people walked out. Colonel Grant, Janus, Cadet Frasier and several Nox, Colonial, Asgard, Tok'ra and Jaffa representatives walked across the walkway to Atlantis itself. Once inside they were greeted by Colonel Lorne. He showed the representatives where they could find Embassy row, the place in the diplomatic section of the city where all alien embassies were located. The Cau representatives were guided to yet another place at the diplomatic section and Grant, Frasier and Janus were led towards the gate room. General Sheppard greeted them after verifying that Janus was a friendly as Grant put it saying he would explain later. Inside the conference room an angry McKay was ranting on to General Carter that there was so much he could be doing instead of listening to Grant telling them how underpowered the Aschen are.

"Doctor McKay, I can assure you it is a little bit more up your league." Grant said as he walked in and caught the last of it.

"Like what?! Unless you've found a living and breathing ancient that is also willing to help us there isn't much that could interest me, ZPM blueprints not included." McKay said.

Janus who had stayed to the back a little bit took a few steps forwards and faced McKay directly.

"What do you want? You think that stare is gonna scare me, give up, Ronon is way scarier. What's up with those old clothes anyways, you look like you raided an ancient warehouse." McKay said.

"Hello, according to your explanation of what could interest you, I should be very interesting. My name is Janus. I am a living and breathing Alterra. I also hid a ZPM manufacturing station in the Cau system's sun. I also managed to safe four Aurora class warships from becoming debris. Does that sound interesting enough to keep you from your pity projects for about an hour or so?"

McKay's jaw nearly hit the floor. Carter and Sheppard were surprised as well to say the least.

"Ehm, ehm I guess." McKay said quietly as he took a seat.

"Why don't we all get seated?" Grant suggested.

"A good idea." Janus said as he took the seat nearest.

The others soon followed.

"So perhaps it would be a good idea to show you guys the present now, got to beam it down from the General Hammond though." Grant said.

Carter just waved her hand as I saying 'just do it' and Grant contacted the General Hammond which subsequently beamed the ZPM onto the table.

Again surprised McKay took a scanner from his pocket and started scanning the ZPM.

"Hm, nearly full power, I assume you plugged it in on your way back? Well it seems to be intact and fully operational; its capacity is even a bit bigger that the ones we've got from the replicators."

"That is because we made some adjustments to increase its capacity after the Asuras project." Janus said.

"And the replicators didn't feel the need to upgrade theirs because they had enough power." McKay supplemented.

"Exactly doctor McKay." Janus said.

"Are there other things we need to know?" Sheppard asked.

"I have made several adjustments to programs like the Arcturus reactor and the Asuras project." Janus said.

"The replicators. Do you have any idea how much it took us to exterminate them? There is no way in hell you're recreating nanite bastards again." Sheppards said angrily.

"How about the Arcturus project, we got it running but it nearly destroyed an alternate reality. How did you get it to work?" McKay asked.

"I'm sure Janus is willing to explain his scientific research in detail later. Let's split for now. Colonel Grant, as long as the Ticonderoga is in dry dock you are the liaison to Janus, if you need something you go to Sheppard or me."

**Emergency Tau'ri Federation Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting**

**Atlantis**

**1300 hours**

President Hayes the temporary president until elections could be held was being briefed on the new situation. Informing him were General Maynard of the Army, General Jumper of the Air Force, General O'Neill of Space Force, General Conway of the Marine Corps, Admiral Sir Stanhope of the navy, Admiral Mullen Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General Cartwright vice chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff. The navy and air force were quickly losing power and influence while the space forces and Marine Corps were quickly gaining more power. The army was able to keep its power base for now.

"So what's up now?" Hayes asked.

"The Aschen have surfaced. We knew of their existence and always wanted to take a look on how far they'd grow since our last encounter with them but because of the war in Pegasus we didn't have the time and resources. Now we need to invest ships in defending the Cau system and its assets, namely a ZPM manufacturing facility. We have no idea on how big the Aschen military is and where their holdings are exactly." O'Neill said.

"How do you plan to handle the Aschen and a possible war against them?" Hayes asked.

"Fortunately the Ancient scientist who is currently on Atlantis has erected a hyperspace barrier around the system. That coupled to a natural barrier of Ion storms keeps the system very secure. There is only one way in and out of the system. If we guard this bottleneck we will be able to inflict severe damage on any force trying to attack us there. There is a Aschen colony inside the barriers, fortunately their technology is no large threat to us. If we can subdue the Aschen already there and perhaps get some battlestars and Ha'taks and perhaps some Asgard ships we can make that bottleneck a killing field through which no ship will come. We might be able to permanent station one or two 304's to the system. Janus, the Ancient scientist also secured four Aurora-class warships and although damaged they are still capable of creating havoc on any enemy fleet." O'Neill said.

"If those Aurora's are really so powerful, why don't we use them in Pegasus to combat the Wraith?" Sir Stanhope asked.

"That is indeed a very good possibility, but for now the ships need to be repaired up to full strength. They will probably be brought back to Earth and repaired at Atlantis. Our plans for now are that they will be part of the battle group that is going to be lead by the 305." O'Neill said.

"And when will that battle group be ready?" Hayes asked.

"In about eight months, add one more for drills and maneuvers but those can be conducted at the Pegasus Galaxy." O'Neill said. "Thankfully the destruction of the IOA allowed us to start construction a lot earlier."

"How do the Marine corps and the Army think this will influence their situation?" Hayes asked.

"We'll finally get something to do. The Wraith aren't that hard to fight on the ground." General Conway said. "Currently we have the first US Marine Division spread out throughout the Pegasus galaxy, usually at platoon strength. We still have two US Marine Divisions and two European Marine divisions ready for combat while other marine corpses are being brought up to strength."

"As General Conway said, the Wraith aren't that hard to fight on the ground and therefore we don't have much troops deployed to the Pegasus galaxy." General Maynard said. "Depending on the type of war this Aschen war will be we might be able to use mobile forces to their full potential, perhaps use them the same way we did in Desert Storm. The problem however will be the deployment; we currently don't have any ships capable of carrying more than a company's worth of equipment and supplies. The colonials have their Marine Stars and we might be able to use those but they haven't been made for speed, something our army relies on."

"General O'Neill, can't we build some of our own transport ships?" Hayes asked.

"We can if we are willing to divert the skills and resources for it, which I currently advise against. We need all our assets on producing 304's and soon more 305's to be able to combat the Wraith. Remember, the Colonials and Jaffa, the two nations with the most ships cannot reach Pegasus Galaxy. Only the Asgard and we can do that. The Asgard are still busy rebuilding their civilization after the Replicator war. In time we can divert a shipyard to making transport ships or mining ships, though we might be able to procure them from the Free Jaffa." O'Neill said.

"So basically you're saying you need time." Hayes stated.

"Yes, we do." O'Neill said.

"And what if we don't have time?" Admiral Mullen asked.

"Then we might need to abandon Pegasus in order to secure the Milky Way galaxy." O'Neill said.

"Okay. I'll try to get more support for the war effort from the cabinet. In the meantime, let's just hope you'll have the time you need."

**Please R&R**

**This is the last chapter. There will be a new sequel but it will take some time before I can get it started and I also have 'Rescue over New Caprica' to write.**

**The sequel will take the fight back to the Wraith just hours after the attack on Earth. **


End file.
